Schwa Lyrics

The Risk

Lyricist: Ed McGee
Vocalist: Ed McGee

I swim out further even though
I sense a vicious undertow.
I close my eyes and dive down deep
and stir a starfish from its sleep.
And as I'm opening my eyes,
a hammerhead swims by.
I hide inside a coral reef
with tigerfish, in disbelief.

	And even as I say 
	that it can't get much worse than this,
	I'd rather reach and maybe miss.
	That's the beauty of the risk.

I leave the car to walk around
and hear the Serengeti sounds,
ignore the posted signs with rules
and all the warnings for the fools.
And as I'm gazing at the sun,
I hear a tranquilizer gun
just as an angry pride of lions
cut across the red horizon.

	And even as my instincts
	cry out "hesitate!  resist!"
	I'd rather reach and maybe miss.
	That's the beauty of the risk.

It's a matter
of what you choose to endure:

The ridicule
and behind-your-back-laughter
as you find brilliance
in what is still their darkness,

or the mystery
and what-would-have-happened
as you settle for safety
and trade you wings in for a cane.


I leave the burning mountainside
in clear October wind to glide
and with such altitude and speed,
from earthly pains, I feel I'm freed.
For fun, I plummet to the trees,
me stripped of sensibilities,
and laughing at my fresh mistake,
I crash-land in a salty lake.

	And even as I fall 
	into the dark of the abyss,
	I'd rather reach and maybe miss.
	That's the beauty of the risk.