The Leap

Dreams are the bandwagon of the hopeful.

For those who can take a leap of faith –

A leap across the abyss of uncertainty,

Beyond the trenches of looming scathe,

For those who are blessed –

Blessed with sheer, unwavering luck,

Always residing by their trusting side,

For those who lay napping –

Napping serenely in the safety net

Woven so fondly by their loving kin.

I pondered.

I deliberated.

I wondered.

Despite my good sense, I took the leap.

And, I fell, fell hard, fell deeply,

Expecting to find myself dreadfully alone.

But, there lay hundreds in the dark,

In the ruins of the castles they’d built

So proudly in the sky

Drowning, soaking with guilt,

At losing all for that final, wretched try.

Some scaled the crumbling walls,

Some began woeful reconstruction,

Some cried in the hollow halls,

Some crumbled beneath in desperation.

And it is there, in the pits of darkness,

Did she begin her unexpected rise.

She is the offspring of a broken heart,

Empty pockets, and shattered dreams,

And begrudgingly, although aching to depart,

With a silent smile, she beams.

She is foresight. She is wisdom.

She flowed from the heavens

Like a wave from a divine kingdom

That’d offered us its weapons.

Would she stand with us, we thought?

Would she cheer for us, lead us,

Watch over us as we fought

The helplessness that’d grappled us?

To our greatest disbelief, she refused.

She didn’t offer her steadfast hand.

The lingering hope, now diffused,

Seeped through our palms, like grains of sand.

Were we meant to perish

In those marshes, so harsh and unforgiving,

Wait for our hardship to extinguish

The belief of a distant future worth living?

And it is, in the dark, where I was lost,

I found myself again.

Unending, overwhelming seemed the cost,

But I had found myself again.

I strolled.

I realized.

I discovered.

Within the rotting carcass of my disaster

Mushroomed the prospect for change.

Because is life really that fascinating

If it doesn’t stem from apparent death?

As I gathered the pieces, crafted the ladder,

Climbed up the rocky cliff,

I heard screams in the distance,

Warning me of a fatal fall,

Arms pulling me down the depths of despair

For watching someone escape sorrow

Is harder than watching them stay there.

I won’t lie, I stumbled.

But, finally, I made my way out again.

And the next time I came across

A harrowing valley crossing my path

I made sure to find another route

Because wisdom worked in strange ways

And steered me towards the bridge

Without me ever realizing

That it was her who’d whispered in my ears

And shown me the way.