I’ll Never Live Up to the Call

If I were fearless,
I would fly out to battle
With a clarion call,
Chainmail flashing in
A glint of the sun,
My sapphire sword
Slicing cleanly through
Injustice,
Lies, greed.
But I have no sword, no scales,
No battle trumpet,
Only a pen, a degree,
And an ancestry made up of little chains—
Like vines crawling up a lattice—
And a heart for what’s right.
But I am not fearless;
I have no wings—
And there is always,
Always—
More work to do.
I’ll never live up to it all.
All heroes eventually die—
Trophies and medals
Tarnish with age,
Lose their sparkle, their potency—
As days pass by.
Tell me—
Are my battle days over, so soon?
Or am I worth fighting for, too?
A wonderfully thought provoking poem Ynes …
“You may never know what results of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results” – Mahatma Gandhi