A Poem By Marcia Thornton

I take the time to contemplate

To look at fluctuating fate

I ponder all my history

And life’s bemusing mystery

Recalling my mistaken years

My childish hopes and misspent tears

I think about the clouded vale

The craggy climb, the mountain scaled

Of broken dreams and bad advice

Of knowledge gained and sacrificed

I calculate what I’ve been through

Decisions made and choices, too

Disasters and their aftermath

When I incurred misfortune’s wrath

Quixotic battles lost and won

Forsaken love’s oblivion

Aggression turned into retreat

And vision turned to vain conceit

I look back on my fall and rise

My quest for the imagined prize

A purblind search for the profound

Though bright ideas didn’t abound

Regretting now my idle youth

My ignorance, my sullied truth

My climb grew harder by and by

At times I couldn’t quantify

The name or nature of my goal

When trouble triumphed on the whole

No one could teach me how to grieve

Or cope with pain’s ignominy

But now I’ve finally reached the top

The pinnacle above the drop

And gazing back I now can see 

My ordered life, my destiny

And chaos is no more the rule

No more am I a wandering fool

For I have finally found my way

And so I honor yesterday

My misery has turned to joy

It’s bright like gold and unalloyed

I drink a toast to all I’ve been

I always knew one day I’d win

I’ve never seen a view so vast

Now that I’m poised above the past

Success is sweetest when you climb

And clarity the gift of time

Marcia Thornton

Monday, November 2, 2020

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