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Spiced Pains

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I believe there is such a thing as a spiced pain--the spice being the promise of victory just ahead of present discomforts. This poem addresses itself to that idea.

The rock that to the climber reaches out with jagged arms And to the sore foot of a traveler turns a tough rough back Holds within its harshness The promise of swift marches To they who aspire towards its summit. And to each of them it someday proves That in the roughness of the way lies the smoothness of the journey— For only amid coarseness can footholds form And only to jagged rock can a grip bond fast. It‘s the same with the affairs of men: They who walk us on oiled paths, Who smooth the way to soothe our soles, Soon see their care turn to a scare When upon its glossy form no crack is revealed where seeds of hope may lodge Nor any gaping holes seen through which golden beams may slip and light the darkness ahead. For fortune draws her breath through cracks That make coarse the route That to success leads— Cracks that soothe our soles with spiced pains, The pains that herald victory Which barren comforts bear not.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016




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Date: 3/21/2017 2:57:00 PM
Wow your words in this poem are beautiful
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Book: Shattered Sighs