the following is a guest post by Marcy Devers Alves (my wife)

That’s the Thing 

by

Marcy Devers Alves 

To never try,
To never know
Could that plane fly?
Could this arm throw?
And could this dream inside me grow?
Now that’s the thing.

I paused tonight in troubled thought,
As in a backward view I caught
A glimpse of dreams and schemes gone past, 
And wondered if somehow, at last
I’ll reach the age of later years
And looking back through sighs and tears
Say to myself in shame of pride,
Of course I failed; I never tried”.

While others round me reached and turned,
In hot pursuits, their fires burned
As mine remained a smoldering ash
With no great flame, no blinding flash.
And I, consumed, sat in the coals
With undreamed dreams and unset goals,
Waiting for the “ideal” day
Of better jobs or better pay
Or “moments suited to the task”
While one by one life’s moments passed.

To never try
To never fail
To one day pass
Beyond the veil
And hear the words I’ll have to say
“I waited for a better day”.

A better day that never came,
While life passed by, things stayed the same;
I waited for the proper time,
The day of muse, or thought or rhyme,
Instead of holding fast each minute
To suck the hallowed essence in it.

O, God a pledge I make this hour
That by your might, your strength, your power
I’ll do the things I plan today
So at life’s end I will not say
“I waited for a better day”
Now that’s the thing.

© 2011, Marcy Devers Alves