Some days bring towering obstacles,
Difficult courses and opposite roads
Even worse, sometimes, there are no clear paths,
No two roads diverging in the yellow woods.

Keeping a lot of people close won't
Keep us from eventually stumbling, and
Keeping our distance from others won't either,
For isolation will break the soul with its longing.

We have to feel—is this not why we are here?
To confront and conquer our deepest fears?
To give as much as we can take?
To smile and move forward through our tears?

When we feel betrayed, deceived, cheated,
Manipulated, disappointed or hurt
When, again and again, we are taken for granted
By those we want to please the most
When death happens to brush as close as a whisper,
Leaving us heaving, and our minds toppling,

Are these not when we can prove our guts and grit,
When we can say we have truly lived?