My greatest achievement to date...
My music? My verse? My skill and knowledge?
Nay.
My greatest accomplishment lies within,
The liberation of my spirit from constant self-pity.
I may thank others who've stood beside me.
I may thank my family who stands behind me.
I may thank the dream which lies before me.
But no less should I thank the one inside me,
The untamed and irrepressible flame,
Exalted in its will and desire,
Blazing in its singular defiance,
Eager to consume, yet eager to create and transform.
This force I cannot name;
To call it mere pride is to sorely betray it,
For this flame is the very sire of life,
The ichor of consciousness, the animus.
For good or evil may this flame be harnessed,
And harness it we must or forever remain benighted.
With this flame may our greatest endeavors be stoked;
Without it, dank and frigid desolation of the heart shall devour us.
But fear not.
This flame burns within us all, however dimly
Awaiting a nurturing air to resurrect its sleeping potence.
My quest is not ended; it is only begun,
Yet I see the light which perhaps eludes you,
And know that all may reach this radiance
If they nourish the flame within.
Love thyself.
George Chadderdon © 1993