Hardship (for JFK)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Hardship

 

The road ahead is hard and treacherous

Powerful forces will oppose us

Many will fall by the roadside

Many will break our hearts

But as a great man* once said

We choose this path not because it is easy

We choose it because it is hard

Because it challenges the human spirit

Because it moves us toward the stars

It defines who and what we are

 

There will always be an easy way

The path of least resistance

Let the Russians take Ukraine

Let the rich have all while we pay

Let the garden of earth go untended

Let the waters fill with industrial waste

Let the wilderness be stripped clean

Let climate change and oceans rise

Let the rights of women and workers fall

Let the pain of others not move us

Let us wait and watch and let be

 

But that is not who or what we are

Not who we were meant to be

We rise to the challenge because we must

We meet our adversaries at the gates

We defend others as if they were ourselves

We protect our homes from plunder

We act with honor and with dignity

When pummeled and pushed we fight

We know the way forward is hard

But it is also good and right

That is why we choose it

 

* JFK