This I Believe – an original poem

A little back story.  I had an essay assigned while I was at University about 5 years ago (before I dropped out).  The professor assigned us the topic “This I Believe” which was inspired by the public collection of essays curated by thisibelieve.org.  Even though I attended a religious university, the assignment about belief was not intended to be strictly theological, more of an open dialogue.  For some reason I could not write the essay.  The few things I could think about saying came out as cliched and tired.  I struggled for weeks and the essay just would not come.  Finally the night before it was due, I just started writing.  The words finally came and it was a very sacred moment for me, full of discovery about myself and the ideals that resonate within me.  Looking back over this poem years later, it’s amazing to me how much of the little pearls of insight I received are so relevant to the beautiful struggle that my life is now.  What was supposed to be an essay was born a poem, and the life I thought I was going to live has transformed into a terrifyingly beautiful experience.  Neither were expected, but both became what they needed to be.

 

This I Believe

By Bear Wilson

A man once proposed that to see is to believe,

and with that shard of truth millions

slammed shut the eyes of their souls

deterring the truth of those things meant to be felt,

meant to manifest to our immeasurable senses.

This I believe.

They should have been told,

belief is what urges that flightless bird of “never” and “impossible”

to look up to the azure sky once more.

For soaring above the clouds is only an accomplishment

if the ascent was a battle to be overcome.

This I believe.

And what battle is greater than that battle of change?

Through this war we call existence we fight many such crusades.

Only to find that the great fire-breathing reptile

was nothing more than our own humanity.

For we struggle to conceal, even camouflage our sins,

never realizing that our vices tamed could be our ticket to the heavens.

This I believe.

But courage, I would tell them,

is what will change the world.

Because courage is what allows man to rise up in action,

but it is also courage that moves a man

to be still

and partake in the ideas of others.

This I believe.

And as our world rises from it’s ashes,

we must remember to love those who remain fallen.

Because as a young girl with a head full of hate and a stomach full of pills

I, and others like me, need that reminder

that no one is unsalvageable.

This I believe.

When our lives draw to their dusk,

And we lie our burdens down for that ultimate slumber,

We will look back and rejoice,

not for the times when we achieved sameness,

But we will take pride in the rare occasion that we had shed our facades,

And wish that our moments of reality had not been so few and far between.

This I believe.

You ask what I believe?

I believe in truth,

that honest words are the ones that hurt and heal the most.

I believe in love,

not that it conquers all, but that it conquers enough.

I believe in risk,

that an unconventional assignment will be understood for what it is,

not torn down for what it isn’t.

I believe in belief.

That conviction is what takes our inadequate works and gives them momentum towards their greatest potential,

whether good or evil.

This I Believe.

*Feel free to share this as much as you want, but please include my name or the blog site. thanks! 🙂