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I wrote this poem in April 2005; it's the longest one I've written thus far and focuses on change in life. The last line of the poem is always the part that gets me thinking; my plan was to set up the reader with so many lines analyzing life's challenges and then end it on a positive yet elusive note.

Beginnings and Endings

by Collin Chadwick



Beginnings and endings are interesting concepts of the human spirit.
One marks a starting point, while the other opens its arms to an even bigger transition.
They both, however, tend to indicate change in a person’s life.

Beginnings and endings can be viewed as trials,
trials you are forced to pull yourself through.
You know they are beneficial, but you may not have the desire to actually begin them.
Though your life may be rushing in that direction anyway, and without your consent.

Life passes us by quickly, they say,
nothing could be more useless than to not pay attention to these trials.
They both have their own importance.
They both depend on your willingness to learn (or re-learn, in some cases).

Trials will lift and pull and stretch and bend you
as they take their toll on your emotions.
Good and bad times, light and darkness, truth and hatred.
They all have places in your mind,
yet only a few you want to grasp and hold on to; the good ones, at least.
Morals are tested; relationships grow and die.
You hate these trials, yet you love them just the same.
But it’s not getting through these trials that should be on your mind;
it should be the journey - what you do while you’re working your way towards the finish line.

It’s ironic that there even is this imaginary finish line that appears to us in our minds;
for if you have ever reached a change in your life without taking hold of the lessons it had offered to teach you,
you would realize that you were foolish to have only thought about that finish line.
The light at the end of the tunnel is what every soul years for,
yet it is the most important facts that breeze by as you rush to comprehend the finish line.

Beginnings and endings both have places in the human spirit, and rightfully so.
They both have lessons to teach, both seem to have your expectations to meet.
But your expectations mean nothing in the long haul,
as fate may have other plans.

The rigorous trials seem to be over at one specific point in your life.
It’s a death-trap, in my opinion,
for you may not realize that life has thrown you yet another challenge,
and you have no choice but to try and catch the fastball: it will become another chapter in this story.

Eventually, when you think you’ve finished all the trials,
unlikely at best,
you start to believe you’re fortunate.
You know you’re still alive, shaken by the trials but not defeated.
You’re still here, you’re still strong.
And that’s when you realize:
this is only the beginning.