I Have Paid My Dues

When you ask me why I am still singing the blues

Playing much happier songs sometimes I refuse,

I have felt this stabbing pain over and over again

I am the poignant poet and I have paid my dues.

When there are enough times you become rejected

After having been carefully chosen and then deselected,

You feel down and dejected and like you can only lose

My heart has been broken before; I have paid my dues.

These feelings of anger and anguish will eventually pass

I will now get back up with style, panache and some class,

I am trying to solve a puzzle without knowing the clues

I am the eternal enigma and I again have paid my dues.

So please appreciate my songs that contain deep rhythm

That I can softly sing like a melancholy muse and cherubim,

There will still be nights in which I cannot laugh or amuse

Missing the rhythm and thus drowning in a river of blues.

I am the unpublished poet and I have paid my dues!

Written by Gary Cox 2/21/2015