Still In Body, Not In Mind. Poem by Simon Lawson

I keep daring to live,
what other choice do I have,
death?
I am not a coward,
I keep daring to live,
even though tears have eroded pathways down my cheeks,
like canals through a desert,
worn smooth dips like the foot of St. Peter,
but I keep daring,
daring
daring
daring
because that's what it is,
when your soul is drowning in these tears,
as though your mind thought it were parched,
let me heal you with these tears,
this sorrow

when your soul starts going to sleep,
and refusing to get up,
later and later it gets up,
like an artist on holiday,
and starts going to bed early,
like creatures in winter,
when the light grows fainter,

I keep daring even though I'm afraid
I'm afraid that one day,
my soul will go to sleep,
curling in exhaustion,
in a well rounded corner,
and unlike in the past,
when the winter creature,
rose from a long winter's sleep

I will not stir,

I keep daring to live,

maybe because one day I'll be too tired to.