TO TASTE the sweet delight,
the rush of living,
the boil in the blood,
the fires of excitement.
To test the unknown.
To joy in the offer,
To wait with unruly
anticipation.
To tame the stallions
of timidity and relic
anxiousness.
To wait for personal
greatness, for moments
to fly.
To risk.
To take hold of our first
intuitions of what we were
intended to become.
To take that chance.
To bend to the will of
the Divine written into the
pleasured fabric of our DNA.
To watch as the story is
being written. To marvel
at the unassuming
beauty of it all.
To leave ego behind.
To put hand to the plow,
to take that first step
from off the ledge
to the waiting
waters far below.
And to rise
with a joy
rarely known
from the somber
and sober exchange
of daily living.
John Bragstad lives along the incomparable North Shore of Lake Superior. He is the author of two books: Compass Season and Nature's Poetry of Life. This piece, "Challenge" is from an upcoming book.