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