We All Rise Eventually by James Diaz

We All Rise Eventually

Everything that matters
comes at you
a little bit at a time
so much rain on a windshield
so much mud on a shoe
no shortcuts
no easy-through
the pain is baked in

And I want to say it’s better that way
but I’m on my knees
and it hurts to breathe
and even still
there are miles calling out to me
more to go
and well, you know
how it is

you think you can’t
but you do

I don’t know about you
but I’ll take it how it lays
and I’ll kick it on up the road
me and mine
and all of the awful is a kinda wonder
in someone’s eyes
I suppose
if you can’t see the glory in stumbling
than the ride you’re on is riding you
things’ll turn around in the dark
in ways you can’t put your hands to

time is that friend who tells no lies
tonight, it’s mirror fight
against the dying light
and try as you might
it’s all there in the skin
written in, stories of pain
songs of shifting road and god is good
I doubt it
but I don’t doubt this:
we’re hard to please even when it’s easy

I’m on my knees tonight
but I’ll rise
and ain’t it always a surprise
how you rise
when you feel wedded to the floor

I’ll take this one wild ride as long as it goes
till I run out of road
and even then, hell, who knows:
maybe dying is just a beginning again.

Again.
Play it again;
right into the ground.
Things turn around.
And you will too. In wonder.
In wonder.

by James Diaz

Twitter: @diaz_james

Editor’s Note: This conversational poem seems deceptively simple, but it mirrors the complexity of life, and more importantly, how important and difficult it can be to choose to live.