This is a poem I wrote back in February of ’97. It still holds up for me today. The words are below and I’m also attaching an audio file of how it plays in my mind.
Read it, listen to it — I hope you like it.
Here’s wishing us all continued success and good things in the new year.
Mr. Adversity — 2.21.97
So, I hear you met Adversity.
How was he dressed?
Did he come from behind, or look you straight in the chest?
Was he charming, clean cut?
Did he present you with gifts?
Scars, like trophies, for patching your rifts?
Or did he come as a boy
With a leash in his hand?
Trailing a few steps behind his puppy, Demand?
Did he tell you the story
Of the mountain and the man?
One climbed the other and reduced it to sand.
He isn’t very smart,
But able to teach.
If you take time to translate all his figures of speech.
When next he approaches
And wants to trade,
Remember the games that you’ve already played.
As long as you’re careful
Not to over extend your length,
Enjoy the pleasure of the power to be gained from his strength.
And one day when Adversity
Grows to be old,
Maybe you’ll pass on that tale you were told.
You know, the one about the mountain and the man,
As you look down the mountain, and see nothing but sand.
