It takes patience to learn patience;
It takes courage to be brave.
One must first find mental freedom
To no longer be a slave.
Only faith can make us faithful;
Truth alone can make us true.
Life must vitalize our living,
Or we die before we’re through.
We must paint to master painting,
Find what lacks to fill a need,
Make mistakes to lessen errors,
Read a lot to learn to read.
We must pray for help in praying,
Lift our sight by lifting eyes,
Practice faith to be believers:
Muscles must have exercise.
“Use or lose” is no trite proverb—
Action keeps our acts alive.
We distinctly have an instinct
Meant to tell us to survive.
It’s God’s will that we be willing;
We were planned by Him to plan.
Pay the dues of human duty:
It’s our destiny as Man.
Rev. David L. Hatton, RN retired in 2015 after 34 years of hospital nursing, and continues his once bivocational ministerial job in a small retirement village church where he’s been the pastor since 1996. Recently, he self-published his 6th poetry book, Poems Between Fear and Faith, but his most popular book is a novelette on body acceptance, Meeting at the River — A Tale of Naked Truth. His home is in Sacramento, California. http://pastordavidrn.com
A well done and very timely poem.
Well written and quite enjoyable!
A wise comment in every line.
Butterfly in the Mist (2006)
Sit on a chair, because it is there.
Walk through a door in the wall.
Here and there are everywhere.
Unable to walk, you must crawl.
You exist in order to exist,
Survive so you will survive.
Like a butterfly in the mist,
You must live to be alive.
Excellent. Well crafted. Musical. Nothing sounds forced.
Though every line is a truism, it never hurts to be reminded of them in this age when falsehoods seem to be the standard fare.