Don Berry: I’ll Play The Part

My uncle wrote this when he was a teenager.  Probably one of the most influential poems of my life.  They say he and I were similar.

***

I’ll Play the Part

Have you ever thought that the role you’ve

got in life
Does not belong to you?
Have you felt the part you’ve played from

the start
Is as foreign as the sky is blue?
Do you ever find when you probe your

mind
You’re not the character you play?
Have you ever felt that your cards were

dealt
From the wrong deck on the wrong
day?
Sometimes I think that I’ve been
misplaced a thousand years,
Displaced a thousand miles
I feel that I have shed someone else’s

tears,

Worn someone else’s smiles
I feel that I have lived someone else’s

fears, and
Passed though someone else’s trials.

But, I know there’s a plan, some reason for

man
A purpose God alone does know.
And so, I’ll open up my heart, yes I’ll play

the part.

Lord of love, you’re behind every show
And though I don’t see what the plan’s to

be,

I know you’ve got it in your hand.
My place in this world soon will be unfurled
Soon the mystery I will understand.
It may seem now that I’ve been misplaced a

thousand years,
Displaced a thousand miles.
It may seem that I’ve shed someone else’s

tears,
Worn someone else’s smiles.
It may seem that I’ve lived someone else’s

fears,

Passed through someone else’s trials.
But, I’ll open up my heart and I’ll play the part
Cause Lord, I know you’ve got me in your
hands.

Don Berry 1970 something.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *