An Alternative Script

I tend to fill small notebooks with my scribbling and obviously had reached the very last page of one such book when I penned the following.

 

An Alternative Script

Reaching the end of this book

into which I have poured myself

sometimes rancid with sorrow

rarely radiant with joy

but always thankful for life

Perhaps to know each day

is really a fresh page of a new book

is the way to look at things

A chance to write a different hand

an alternative script

with a better ending

So on this the last

I want to remember and look forward to

all the stories in my life unwritten

that lie ahead just awaiting discovery

The triumphs the deeds

that I can hug to myself

as life on this plain wanes away

The friendships that I thank God for now

and the ones just around the corner for me to meet

And of all the sorrows and challenges

please give me strength for this too

So I won't buckle at the knees

and find my spirit cracked

I don't want to be a horse

carefully broken down to accept

the bridle and bit of life

I'd rather be a rough mare roaming

free on the plains

Discovering all that life offers

finding beauty in the landscape within and without

Unfettered, unsullied, unbroken

and if my feelings get worn

and a bit abused

I'd much rather that, than be iron clad

with the blacksmith's metal

and not feel the rough from the smooth at all

Let the hard surface of all

that I explore and meet

wear my hooves naturally

For a book unopened is protected forever

but what a wasted opportunity

Better thumbed and read, written and turned

than pristine and untouched.