As curtains rise, <br />Lain paralyzed <br />He is first apprised <br />Our star; <br />Of this, his coward's life. <br /> <br />Once choked upon distress' caress, <br />He retched the chyme of hopelessness. <br />Realizing the unlikeliness, <br />Of answers to the question, <br />Why, did youth and fortune pass him by? <br />For lack of grit life's tang's denied. <br />But some godsend halted the reaper's scythe <br />Gave rare, recourse to rectify <br />The remnants of his squandered life. <br /> <br />Once gorged with fear; now rife for strife, <br />No fattened piglet spared the knife. <br />For tasks that mark a man's true worth, <br />No longer, lie beyond his reach. <br />By chance, at last to thrive on life, <br />And revel in his own rebirth. <br /> <br />The handsome lass he now would greet; <br />New risks he raced to undertake; <br />The cache of gold he'd bravely seek; <br />For glory's sake, put life at stake. <br />No mountains would remain unclimbed <br />No ocean would stay unseen. <br /> <br />To chase and blaze new trails to glory, <br />To charge, beyond, unconquered hills <br />All actions that re-write his story, <br />Stout potions charged to cure life's ills. <br /> <br />Now curtains close, <br />At last reposed, <br />Our star; <br />In this, <br />No more, his coward's life.<br /><br />Alto Lee Thomas, Jr.<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-coward-s-life/
