These challenges that do,
The ones that really test,
They don't walk up in front
And push you in the chest.
Stomach muscles fully tensed
Ready to take on all,
They suddenly appear beside
And kick you in the balls.
Writhing from the shock,
They kick you in the head
And gut and spleen and kidney,
Leaving you for dead.
This essence of surprise
Is cruelty's finest trick,
Off-guarded, out of nowhere
And just for fun, another kick.
Fight is futile, fucking pain
Keeps us floored with fear,
Senses tuned and dulled at once,
A weight too much to bear.
And yet we live to look beyond,
To rise and slowly walk,
Dazed and stupefied, but up
We stagger down the road.
And then to calmly walk,
Not so much a swagger,
But much more surely than before
For all this extra baggage.
More freedom and more safety,
Aware of one more threat,
Stronger, readier, more alert
To what we don't expect.
