Life is a medieval gauntlet to be run
with strong will, tenacity, determination.
The gauntlet’s clubs and sticks
are simply a part of life’s challenges.
Early in life the run is simple: conquer childhood’s diseases,
get through school, embark on a career, live life.
The gauntlet’s stones and weights are love, commitment, dedication.
Middle age requires substantial confidence, trust, hope.
Long life presents a twisted, tricky gauntlet
of terrible tortures and trials, all roadblocks
to success, peace, happiness, caring and fulfillment.
Every challenge is faced with youth’s invulnerability.
The slow swinging pendulum of death’s dark
blade, can not be avoided, it must
be delayed, deceived, conquered
with determination, optimism.
Survival’s secret lies not in outlasting
life’s challenges, not in battles won or lost,
nor in the joys and sorrows
of life’s everyday experiences.
Survival in the gauntlet of life requires years of trial,
error, learning to face one’s toughest challenges.
Each of us requires all the help one can summon.
Life is ephemeral, tenuous, transient, temporary.
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Comments: 9
beautifully written.
I love the addition of this line "Every challenge is faced with youth’s invulnerability." Thank you for posting this to our group. Your poem is now featured. I love and miss you, Dad! xoxoxo
Randy, very true. This has been on my mind lately as well. I sometimes I think I am a bit Hobbesian, short, brutish and (oy, I forget, but you catch my drift). You made me think, you went with the flow of my thinking lately. Isn't that one of the things a well writen poem is supposed to do? Thank you!
With so many deceptions in the air, so many catalysts have been added, over the next few years the cosmos, that which most call "God" will allow each man to decide his value, what is of most importance to him.
Is life what we really believe it to be?
Are we here to discover what makes us "happy" or is there more to the story, a bigger picture?
So many questions, so few answers;
The material on my Ancient Wisdom page (is a link) gave me much to consider.
Powerful and true words
Agreed.
Philosophical prose poem, Randy. Then there are those who choose not to run the gauntlet and let life slip on by without comment.
"it must be delayed, deceived, conquered"
Yep -- well-said. I love the last line, too. More! More!