You’ve tried so hard
to escape the duty.
And the pain.
To hide where you can manage refrain.
You’ve run it out.
You’ve screamed at it, punched,
even turned and fled.
All swallowed up inside your head.
And after so many hours,
so many years,
what did you solve
beyond your own resolve?
I don’t see much.
Nothing but a hollowed,
blasted timelapse,
waiting it out for your collapse.
But there is no escape.
No Life hall pass.
No moment in time
where you can give up the climb.
You see that, right?
That the problem
may never go away,
no matter how much you pray.
So, when will you adjust?
Start to accept?
So you can get
past this adversity you met?
The sooner you can live
with all that comes,
the sooner you will see
how it’s possible to be free.
Not of duty,
or the pain or the weight,
but how to hold,
lest you become bitter and old.
And with each step
you start to find
that it doesn’t hurt so badly.
You can face it—gladly.
A chance to learn
and smile again,
Hear some stories you didn’t know—
give laughter room to grow.
Because in those moments,
where you can stick,
and see past all those walls of doubt,
good things do come about.
Glimmers of hope.
Glimmers of long beauty.
But if you wait all of your life
for a day without strife,
Then guaranteed,
you’ll remember nothing.
No big smile, no scrape.
Nothing but the want to escape.
— ❧ —
Poetry For the Soul
I find poetry a very healing exercise. It allows me to reflect on something more deeply and get rooted in the most positive conclusion I can take from an event or set of circumstances. This poem came to me recently while out for a hike, but in reference to an old experience. One that went on for many years. I liked the idea of one person talking to the other, when it is in fact, one person talking to himself.
This poem is part of a growing collection at In Verse.