Cast the fate of no man.
Throw no ropes for the derelict.
Heed the cautious fall.
Every omen that sits
in the heavens to behold
is either death, or resurrection.
Time passes,
but it is not time
that steals promise,
sinks ships,
or breaks the front lines.
Murmurs heard in the small hours,
as the padding feet of predators,
great and small,
set ambushes upon the day.
Hear the fearful say,
“He ought to have done
as he was told.”
Knowledge of choice
is not reckless fearlessness,
but courage in the face
of divine consequence.
One man sees the coming storm
and all calamity
as a test
of what mettle makes him.
Another,
sees the storm as his master’s hand.
Prosecutorial,
and symbolic of admonishment.
Which is the son of vanity?
The man who stands ready,
or the one that shrinks in fear?
Both stand to lose.
Both are afraid.
Why is one strong
and the other weak?
Be what may come.
Set no trap for others,
but that they might see one
standing strong amongst the aftermaths.
Cunning connivers.
knives out and guilt drives them.
Shame harnesses them like an ass,
and drives them into service,
for like it or not,
each shall serve their master.
The light breaks through,
and the clouds relent.
What illuminates our character
is not how well we face the dark,
but how we face the dawn.
All will lose.
All will fail.
None will know what it is
to not fall short
of the perfect light of dawn.
No man shall judge,
but the day will reveal
to each of us our losses,
and to all of us, our fragility.
Strength comes
not from haughty words,
or imagines virtues,
but from the love
of brother to brother,
sister to sister.
All as one.
Fail one,
and fail them all.
Signs of life
even creep in
amongst our gravestones.
Time is but a meter,
not a stick, or carrot.
We are in this world
for far too short a time
to understand it.
So, our work must be
not to cast our fates on others,
but to help strengthen them,
help them grow.
To love thy neighbor as thyself,
as much as it is in us.
DJR – 2023
