by Amy Hall (by Shaun Roundy, actually, as Amy is a fictional character)
Always Darkest Before the Dawn.
Always silent before the song.
Always coldest before the spring,
But oh, what rich treasures such trials can bring!
When you think you’re ready to give up hope,
When you’ve reached the end of a long, thin rope,
When trying once more doesn’t make any sense,
That’s the moment that makes all the difference.
That’s the moment you can choose to give in
Or the moment you start to fight and to win.
And whatever you choose in this short, golden hour
Will determine your fate when you stand tall or cower.
It’s in moments like these when great heroes are born
Who refuse to be beat, though they’re bleeding and torn.
Who refuse to admit that the battle is lost,
Who refuse to surrender, no matter the cost.
It’s in moments like these when the world makes you shrink
That your actions record as with paper and ink
Whether you’ll be the coward with no name and no face
Or a hero whose heart time can never erase.
It’s in moments like these that the fate of the earth
Will rest on the shoulders of heroes whose birth
Could never have happened and never been spawned
If not for the dark in the hour before dawn.
I think of the Savior, lifted up on the cross,
There to pay for my sins at a terrible cost.
I think of the nails and the blood that He shed
That He might die, resurrect, and redeem all the dead.
That my soul might be saved through the blood of the Lamb –
The Glorious Jehovah! The Eternal “I Am”!
Who cried out in anguish “Let this cup pass from me,”
But shrank not, though He trembled, and from Hell set us free.
So I’ll keep His example and I’ll walk where He trod.
I’ll pursue the strait path to the Kingdom of God.
When I rise through the clouds once my race has been run,
He will lovingly whisper, “My servant, well done.”
Note: Since my husband's cancer surgery 4/25/05, this book content has been integrated into the public speaking content for audiences interested in a sassy approach to personal and/or community awareness events. Another chapbook on intimate love poet