A Coward's Life Poem by Alto Lee Thomas, Jr.

As curtains rise,
Lain paralyzed
He is first apprised
Our star;
Of this, his coward's life.

Once choked upon distress' caress,
He retched the chyme of hopelessness.
Realizing the unlikeliness,
Of answers to the question,
Why did youth and fortune pass him by?
For lack of grit life's tang's denied.
Aaah, now fortuitous fates conspired to coincide...
Some godsend halted the reaper's scythe
Gave rare, recourse to rectify
The remnants of his squandered life.

Once gorged with fear; now rife for strife,
No fattened piglet spared the knife.
For tasks that mark a man's true worth,
No longer, lie beyond his search.
By chance, at last, to thrive on life,
And revel in his own rebirth.

The handsome lass he now would greet;
New risks he raced to undertake;
The cache of gold he'd bravely seek;
For glory's sake, put life at-stake.
No mountains would remain unclimbed
No ocean would stay unseen.

To chase and blaze new trails to glory,
To charge, beyond, unconquered hills
All actions that re-write his story,
Stout potions charged to cure life's ills.

Now curtains close,
At last reposed,
Our star;
In this,
No more, his coward's life.