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I will not be Afraid, a poem

Sumyanna

storm

 

If anyone or anything
has ever taught me-
I have learned
to strive
beyond my reach
to grasp tight to my dreams.
It is not that
a helping hand sheltered
or that caring heart
shadowed my own,
I was alone
struggling
trying to find my way
but each time
I was knocked down
I got back up
and tried again
and though tears
gently streamed across my cheeks
and my soul begged surrender,
I knew that it was painful –
but I knew no other way.
We never recognize
the birth of resilience
the moments when
we have been forced
to carry too much
but we carry on
because giving up
is not within our veins.
No matter the sound
of the raging storms to come
nor the rushing waters deep
nor the silence that echoes
and suffocates my breath
I will not be afraid,
I will not be afraid –
to pursue my dreams.

© Sumyanna 2017

 

Written for The Daily Post Prompt: pursue

Fabulous image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Published by Sumyanna

Writer of poetry and seeker of knowledge. I hope to inspire and be inspired by my words and the world around me.

52 thoughts on “I will not be Afraid, a poem”

  1. Pingback: Author Interview – Katie Salidas – “The Immortalis”, “Olde Town Pack”, “Little Werewolf” & RONE Award Winning “Chronicles of the Uprising” (Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance & Horror) | tooful

  4. Hurts there have been aplenty,
    tears, a few, especially from frustration,
    picking myself up lots,
    with hope,
    rather than hatred,
    but not out of bravery,
    but the will to survive;
    to help others,
    to share a smile
    and forget darkness
    that hold one back,
    here I am 60 years later,
    still smiling, still happy,
    still trying to help.

    One great poem begets another, though I think our ways of getting to a similar place are very different, but that is how the world functions, adding more interest. Thanks for sharing, best wishes and blessings, Charles.

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          1. All is well, the computer broke down twice, and Genevieve had an asthma attack, so had to get her nebulised, but she is slowly picking up. I am on holiday for the first time since early August last year, so was absolutely whacked, but am also slowly recovering. Maybe more poems soon.

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          2. Sorry to hear about your computer, and please do take excellent care of Genevieve. She must be an incredibly beauty 🙂 You may tell her I said so. Asthma is not easy… most of my family has it, but fortunately it skipped me. Enjoy your holiday and if all you do is relax… so be it!

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          3. Have slept a multitude of dreams, read a few books (how good it felt to do both) and am trying to sort out our finances, and the 2 estates. Genevieve is a beautiful soul, who I just adore!

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          4. Oh to have free time 🙂 I am hoping to finally have some soon. Then, I’m going to get outdoors and refuse to come inside like when we were kids 🙂 I am so tired of being stuck inside all the time. Looking forward to warmer weather and nature, lots of nature…

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          5. Here, fortunately the cold and rain are slowly pushing in, which is as well, as water restrictions are being escalated to level 4, and the pressure of water in our pipes is being decreased all the time. Rain and maybe snow for tomorrow. 🙂 Enjoy the summer.

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          6. It always amazes me to think you are going through the opposite season as we are at the exact same time. So nice that the internet has open our eyes a little wider! Hope you do get some moisture. It is never easy to be on water restrictions. We have them here sometimes, but definitely not as bad as some places.

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          7. Water outside of the sea is actually a rare resource, and out to be treated that way. Desertification is rampant in many countries of the world due to lack of water resources. It is strange to think we are different time zones and that our seasons are opposite. When I travel in the northern hemisphere I often turn the wrong way, as the sun is always in the south, where as for us it is always in the north.

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          8. Yes, I would think it would be disorienting. I have been overseas where they use huge water containers on their houses and have to get them filled, while I live in the US where water is plentiful. I learned a lot about treasuring your resources over there – and while I can’t say I am as good as I should be, I do try. I need to work on that more, I think… because what we do here can impact others as well. We should NEVER take anything for granted.

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          9. Yes I agree, it is al to easy to take things for granted, even little things, that one doesn’t ordinarily think about, but when you go to an area that is worse off than you, it can give one a big wake up call. It is hard though to think and work on these things when all the trappings of wealth are round one all the time.

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          10. I think we all need more wake up calls. We all need to walk those streets and see what people go through. I think change requires it. We need to learn to have compassion, but if we don’t know… how can we change anything? So incredibly true.

            By the way, I do hope you are doing well. I haven’t made my rounds yet, but I don’t think I’ve seen posts from you. I know you must be busy, but just wanted you to know your absence was noticed!

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          11. Thanks Sumyanna, I am fine, but have been on holiday. I was really tired, so just rested and read some books; how I’ve missed reading books over the last few years. Also had to restructure my finances, as we were running short of money all the time. I forgot to renew my drivers licence, so am driving illegally for the moment. Lots of things happened that I could have written a poem about, such as watching a Falcon descend into our garden and catch a vole before flying off with it towards the mountains. After this holiday, strangely I am still very tired, but am picking up my energy levels, so hopefully I will soon be back with more poems.

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          12. I do hope you enjoyed your holiday. It is good to relax and get away. So often we are over-busy. It is a blessing. I seriously have not read an entire book in years now. Schooling just won’t allow it and I know my ability to control myself (I have none). I would read… get engrossed and not come out of my room until I reached the end. Perhaps during the summer I might start a new trend and try, but the kids and I always want to get outdoors as often as we can.

            I look forward to hearing more of your poetry soon. Oh, that falcon sounds glorious!

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          13. Holiday finished yesterday, so am immersed in work again, though am still trying to walk more and read more. By the way we have 3 resident squirrels here, but none are as interested and as interesting as yours. Homeschooling, I’m sure is fantastic, but I’m sure it takes lots of time and effort every day.

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          14. Oh so funny – the little guy came this morning while my daughter was doing an online class with her teacher. She runs in crying out “the squirrel’s trying to eat my toes!” He was looking to see if there were any scraps or nuts around and kept eyeing her toes, lol. He is a silly little guy. I can’t help but wonder what her teacher thought! Oh, homeschooling – every second of every day. It can be heartbreaking and difficult but the reward is so great. I would not have it any other way 🙂

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          15. This really seems to be a hugely habituated squirrel, ours here are very jumpy, and scamper for the trees, at the slightest sound or movement. I am in touch with many home schoolers out here, who buy books to help them at our shop. As we feel home education is important, if we know they are home educators we give them 10% discount for all the books they buy. Best wishes and blessings, Charles.

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          16. He is curious. I have actually noticed him watching us for years through the window, but never took out my camera. I only started doing that recently. So amazing to see you help people homeschool. It is such a difficult task but incredibly rewarding. It is so essential to have access to quality materials.

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          17. Yes I’m sure it is essential to have the best quality materials, and I’m sure it is very rewarding, and it also gives one the ability to teach from ones own point of view, which can lead to a more rounded education, and a more rounded individual. It’s wonderful to have nature around one, and be able to watch birds squirrels and other animals.

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          18. For me, I find that teaching the kids (while we do use a school curriculum) allows me to teach history and other subjects from more than just one point of view. It is amazing to see that not all sides are usually presented. When I was I child… I was always asking “why or why not… how did the other side view the event?”

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          19. Yes there are many sides to history, and the older the history the more chance there is for looking at the events in different ways, for instance there are very significant new evidence being found about the Vikings and their place in history. I was also a why child, but it used unsettle my parents, who used to reply, ” because Y is a crooked letter and you can’t make it straight.” I used to go off and ponder this for hours, try to make sense of it, which I did eventually. But that is probably why I did, Cultural History of Western Europe, and History as my majors at university.

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          20. Oh, I know the feeling! My parents began wishing they did not teach me to talk or read! Too many questions. Oh wow – what fascinating majors! I actually did really horribly in history all those years in school – or just barely scraped by. I thought it so odd to have to memorize dates and names that meant nothing to me. However, as I grew older I realized that history is just stories about people who lived before us. Once I took it apart that way, it became all the more fascinating. When you think of it from all the side you can possibly see, it is amazing to see how things interweave to tell the tale. What makes me sad though, is to realize that today we are going to be the history that someone will read later one. I wonder what it will tell about us as people. I wonder what lasting damage it will have. It is rather sad to think of it that way, but perhaps if more people realized this is our legacy… perhaps it would change things. Someday, people will read of our achievements (or not) and wonder about us.

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          21. Perhaps they will see the slow movements towards a better world, and more peace and Godliness in the world. they will probably hold the 20th and early 21st century up as a set of struggles that moved society forward, but to be seen as a time and way of life never to be returned to. I did Archaeology 1 as well, and there is a new branch of archaeology which studies contemporary society, they pick through rubbish dumps, evaluating peoples refuse and coming to some quite interesting observations. So in time this information will be used and incorporated in our writing and understanding of the history of the times in which we live. At school so far as I did well in anything, it was geography and history. At university history goes way beyond dates and individuals. A lot of the papers I submitted had very few names, and almost no dates. I really got a huge amount out of the cultural history. i think both were major growth areas for me, and I still get a major kick out of studying and reading in these areas.

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          22. Yes. For some strange reason I always found history boring because we had to memorize important dates and names, but not really understand their importance. As I grew older, I was amazed to see that the very stories I loved – were also portrayed in history if I looked at it the right way. Now, I try to focus the kid’s attention more to the significance of what happened instead of just dates. It does make a difference.

            I do hope they are slow movements for a better world. I know, for certain, that there are good people out there. However, the things people are willing to do and say, shows a darker side than I had ever imagined. For some, hate is just so easy and I guess that is something I will never understand. I don’t care if someone does not agree with me, I will not use that as an excuse to harm them. Others, sadly – do not live the same way. I get amazed at the insensitive comments of people and I realize the world is changing and people are more in support of their own views than they are for a better world where we can live together peacefully. It is more about and all about “me” and anything I think/feel/see/hear must be true and their are no other valid ways to look at it. If anyone looks at it differently – they deserve to be punished for doing so (whether by action, words, etc.) We see much of this here in the United States and it is rather scary.

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          23. This is known as the me age, and there is a lot of hatred, and self absorption, but I have found a growing urgency and need for change, and there is love out there too. Here also there is a lot of hatred and violence, but there are many people who would like to end all of this an forge a proper loving forward thinking and looking rainbow nation. But yes we are still far away from that utopian thought, unfortunately. History actually can teach us many lessons, but some how we look past them and make the same mistakes over and over.

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          25. Yes, we also must be able to read it and to share it, but it apparently does not make good news, or sell magazines. Maybe novels on this topic is the way to go.

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  5. This poem speaks to me.

    We never recognize
    the birth of resilience
    the moments when
    we have been forced
    to carry too much
    but we carry on
    because giving up
    is not within our veins.

    That’s so beautifully written, and so true xxx

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    Reply

    1. Thank you very much Jane. Yes, it is incredibly true and I know you know it well. Sometimes the strength required seems too much, but we amaze ourselves at our ability to survive. Your children are fortunate to have you fighting for them 🙂

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          1. I know that my support – and my temporary stepping back from her, last year, has been of benefit to my daughter.
            My support of my son gave him the opportunity to bully me, and become worse. Since I refused to have him in my life he seems to have got clean. I don’t know for sure, since I won’t see him until he begins paying me back some of the money he stole and bullied out of me.

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          2. I think we do the best we can and all we can hope is that it will make an impact – if not now, that perhaps later. So glad to hear your daughter is doing well!

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