In the Soup
Definition: in trouble, as in “I’m in the soup with the boss.”
Without fear, we’d be in traction with braces head to toe––
Each day a speed infraction from refusing to go slow.
We’d fall off tipping ladders and land upon our heads
or go to sleep with adders sleeping in our beds.
We wouldn’t have good sense about where we ought to go.
Our decisions would be faulty––our thought processes slow.
We’d wind up in the jungle sleeping on the ground
hoping for each bungle a solution might be found.
An expert on this topic, I’ve been in many a stew.
But luckily, I chose to act, so “done to” turned to “do”
as in the past I came too near to kidnapping and rape,
and luckily by conquering fear, I found means of escape.
After graduating college, I became a bum;
but now I can acknowledge that I was often dumb,
with fearlessness often what got me into trouble—
need for adventure softening the rub of danger’s stubble.
Traveling to foreign regions, I was so naive
that my mistakes were legion, so now I do believe
it’s crazy to be fearless. Now even I succumb.
In caution I am peerless––finding fearlessness is dumb!
This is a rewrite of an earlier poem. The prompt today was succumb.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 