Courage

Courage is the earnest prayer

That tames a fretful mind,

Courage is the pain we bear

When hope is left behind.

Courage speaks in honesty,

Though loss may surely follow,

Truth bends the will reluctantly

To chance what lies tomorrow.

And courage will in silence wait,

Though design would intercede,

And instead allows the hand of fate

Its tapestry to weave.

Courageous is the pioneer,

Who takes the obscure roads,

Not resting in the known and clear,

But lives as life unfolds.

Courage is the willingness

To unveil the shadow of our being,

And face the fear, the grief, and emptiness,

That give life authentic meaning.

Courage bids, “Surrender pride

look behind the mirror,”

To embrace, not shame, the flaws inside,

And make amends for error.

Courage doesn’t walk away

From darkness in its path,

But meets the night assailing day,

With truth, and love and wrath.

Courage is the heart unsealed,

Though temptation is to hide,

Courage is the soul revealed,

All armor set aside.

Courage lives reality,

Each moment full and clear,

With patience and integrity,

The path to bliss from fear.

©Darlene Lancer 1991