Challenge

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.