The Gauntlet

Fate threw down the gauntlet on the day that I was born  

into a cold and snowy world on a midwinter’s morn.

With a blizzard raging outside into this world I came,

and with a lusty cry I did my life proclaim.

They were the first of many tears I would in my lifetime shed,

but ne’er again did my tears flow because of fear or dread.

You see, I accepted the challenge at the moment of my birth

knowing that without it life would have little worth.

If a soul is never challenged, it can never grow,

and on the stage of life its part will be naught but a cameo.

For every tear I’ve shed this life two smiles have I enjoyed,

and never have I felt that adversity my life destroyed.

Each mountain I was faced with I climbed of my own accord

knowing that not trying would bring me no reward.

And each valley I spent time in gave me much needed rest,

and the energy I would need to surmount my life’s next test.

My life is now at twilight and none of it do I regret

for in my life joy and sorrow have played a bittersweet duet

Yet, I choose to live each moment left with this hope deep in my heart

that when this life finally ends a better one will start.

Copyright 2003 Bobbi Duffy