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