Roses have thorns.

The Risk

By: the iHope Poet

Life isn't meant to be lived in heartache;

though the heart does break, breathing helps us mend.

We don't climb trees with the intention of falling,

and when those branches don't hold, we just climb again. 

The risks shouldn't keep us from choosing the greatest, 

yet we must regard the prices we have chosen to pay.

So when we lose, or ache, or fall, or regret, 

it's best to accept the beauty caused our pain today. 

No, we wouldn't fly airplanes with wings tipping down, 

or expect our best kite to soar without wind. 

We wouldn't pick roses that've wilted and withered;

But we don't drop the flower when its thorns prick our skin.  

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On Looking Back

Old Ropes
By: the iHope Poet

Life moves along so quickly.
Often, I don't hold onto one rope long enough
to realize how suddenly
it slipped from my fingertips.

And the old ropes are replaced so easily.
Whenever I'm found empty handed,
It takes about a split second
before a new one is placed in my grip.

It's only when I stand upon life's hilltops,
looking back at the end of each day, month, year . . .
and the setting sun lights the paths I've long crossed-over;
that I realize all I've passed through.

It is then that I see how far
my own two feet can carry me -- and how swiftly
those neverending ropes drag me forward.
Ever forward. Leaving behind the old and grabbing onto the new.

So I'm sorry. That I never stopped long enough
to look back and say goodbye. I didn't realize I'd be gone so soon.
And by the time that sun glowed orange and pink across the horizon,
you were far away and left on your own path.

Probably glancing back occasionally, too.

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