Persevere!

Perseverance is key. For when no one stands beside you, you shall stand beside yourself.

Ode to the hopeful awakening.

I traveled as a man

I burned through the wounds of life

as flesh rotted under old cuts and burns

tears relinquished to my clenched jaw

“Hold. Hold,” said my fellow man

Thud, thump … my heart … thud, thump

Encased, peering outward but stuck,

My face pressed against smudged glass,

I watched those free spirits dance in

Wild, uncontrolled, jovial exuberance,

“Waste not the world,” said they.

Thud … thump … my heart … thud, thump

Vapid entertainers sought my favor

dimmed the raging fires inside

pouring barrels of icy disenchantment

until only a cerulean luminescence remained

“Why bother,” said my friends.

Thud … thump … my heart … thud … thump

Fear tracked my path

It hovered over the ledge of my climb

bellowing shrill cries that bled my core,

I gasped and an erratic shaking started,

“You are mine,” said fear.

Thud, Thud, … my heart … Thud, thump.

Drifting downward as a not a man,

I tensed into a static discipline,

Flowing where Fear allowed,

Ripped and shredded in the torrent,

“Flow. Just flow,” said the passersby.

Thump, thud … my heart … thump, thud.

A final breath filled me,

My body drifted along and downward,

Tumbling against the granite boulders,

Eyes open but not awake,

“Fight,” a voice said. “Fight.”

Thud, thump … my heart … thud, thump.

Inward, my mind wandered over that icy crevasse

I stabbed blindly with my ice axe,

Searching  for inward greatness, shards forgotten

Darkness and light intermixed

“Youth is error,” said old men.

Thud, thump … my heart … thud, thump.

Writhing, wretched strokes upon strokes,

Pushing against and along and upward,

to reach out and feel the surface again, breathe the air,

Some of me lost, but dare I go down again?

“Build new and hold,” said I.

Thud, Thump … my heart … Thud, Thump