Courage
My Ode to Allegory of the Cave
I walk through the forest.
Barefoot, though I feel not twig nor stone.
My eyes stay closed, as you had said, "walk and see with your ears instead."
The swish of the leaves in the breeze. The call of the birds in the trees.
The sweet sounds shift deeper. The incline grows steeper.
The temperature grows milder as the winds become wilder.
There is a constant crackling beneath me, and stray branches whip my bare form.
The cuts might bleed, but never will I flee. In my head, resonates your odd decorum:
"Look, but not with your eyes."
"Look, though you might regret it."
"Look, but you won't hear their cries."
"Look, though you may forget it."
What lies ahead, I cannot say, but something keeps the danger at bay.
Like Orpheus, I only need not to look back. Like Eurydice, there lies a passive-aggresive attack.
My breath quickens at the notion... Am I afraid?
Overcome by emotion, I feel myself fade.
The winding flow of my thoughts tightens my chest,
And tempts my eyelids, that twitch in contest.
All the while, my throat fights one huge lump.
All the while, blooms my one organ's dense thump.
My organ, so vital, so very alive.
I can hear it, I can feel it, and I will it to thrive... Strive... Survive.
The pounding organ is overwhelming, if only just.
I know, though, my heart does just what it must.
None betray what lies before my feet. Still, I walk, blind, with that steady beat.
And though my eyes are closed, I still can cry. Cry alone and no one hears but I.
Still, I walk my trek through the brush of rigor.
I can't know what comes next, but hopes flush with vigor.
I know if I stop, if I float to the sky, then that's giving up, and all that's left is to die.
It is then that I hear it, I am not alone.
"We all walk together, carved from the same stone."
All are meant to thrive. Strive. Survive.
And Fate was set before our time.
Who knows our reason and our rhyme?
We're all just meant to be alive. And so,
my feet keep pace.
