Struggle Poem by Claude H Oliver II

Our gifts, wonderful and many, come encumbered
With each gift comes challenge unnamed
Oft times a burden, an obstacle to fulfillment
Gifts bringing joy and sorrow, elation and pain
It seems that encumbrance must be
No separation, no boundary twixt gift and challenge
Entwined ever, resisting intervention
Requiring vigilant awareness, raised consciousness
Love and compassion, a soft touch, kind words
And patience deep and vast as the ocean
Here lies our legacy - possibility of promise or demise
Individual yet shared, sanity sharing insanity
Ebullience shared, pain unshared
This tightrope, this balance beam
The challenge of this existence.

August 12,2014