Beyond the Pain

This poem is especially for Howard P.

COURAGE

Cowards

are we all,

Who easy choices

make.

Fear whispers

In every ear,

Few choose not,

To heed.

Seldom to us

Is given

Greatness.

Yet,

It is not

The Grand Acts

That make us

Great.

Rather,

Small choices,

Carved out of despair;

Forged in pain:

Choosing life’s

Hurtful embrace.

Not for other’s

Scant approval,

But for

Self;

We do that

Which we

Must do.

Living for

Ourselves

Is never

Easy;

We stand

Alone,

Balanced

At the Edge.

Giving no thought

To others,

We fall among

The Uncaring;

Heeding too much

Another’s call,

We Join

The Sheeplike masses.

And, yet

ALL this knowing,

We DARE

To say,

“I CHOOSE.”

© 1987, 2009 Lyle T. Lachmuth, All Rights Reserved Adapted from “New Cycles” by permission of the Author

The Sadness Is With Me

The Sadness

sits with my heart.

Alone

I feel,

So, much alone

and, sometimes

I want to die,

and, sometimes

I want to run away,

For the Sadness

leaches through my soul,

Permeating:

Soul, body, mind, and marrow,

and fills

my being with

naught but pain.

Yet,

run I not;

And, die I not;

For somehow

This familiar melancholy

comforts me

like sipping

a soothing elixir

and, so

I wallow in the

pain

and, through

immersion

emerge

renewed,

revitalized,

and

refreshed.

Copyright 2009, Lyle T. Lachmuth, All Rights Reserved