Passion

Sometimes I stop and look around

and wonder why we do it

For the 80 years we’re blessed with walking the earth

why do we care so passionately about things

–

Our lives are but a speck on the timeline of the world

No one will remember us a hundred years after we’re gone

Hell, only a few will remember us after just a few months

–

So why do we try so hard to do certain things

Write symphonies

Run marathons

Go back to college to learn new skills

And why do we celebrate each other for these things

–

I think it’s because

we recognize the tragedy of mortality

Mortality is the glue that connects us

We all exit this ride through the same gift shop

–

So when some of us reach beyond

the routines of life that chain us to the ground

we cheer

–

These people aren’t Gods

They haven’t become immortal

They’ve simply decided that life

in spite of its inevitable tragedy

means more than being chained down

–

Passion is like laughter

it rises above the din of the machine

and keeps rising forever

–

Every day we wake

we are blessed with a choice

to stay chained down

or rise up

***

This is the fifteenth poem of my personal 30-day poetry challenge to break away from the machine to think about things that don’t matter. I have to be honest this is a recycled blog post from years ago that I thought had a nice rhythm (and story) that needed to be a poem. – Jim