You know what most amazes me?
is not that so many need therapy,
but that so many people don’t!

I mean, it seems my life to me
is a daily test of my ability,
to hold on to my sanity,
to keep a grip on what’s real,
and what’s important,
to struggle for what’s right,
while so many of those around me,
seem bent on self-destruction,
it’s a tragedy beyond conception!

Which is why I need
time on my own,
in the mountains all alone,
no human face to haunt me,
but the faces in my mind.

Time to catch my breath,
a vacation from the motion
of all the mental commotion
the people moving
through the streets
‘till they seem to all stand still.

Now don’t get me wrong!
Life is the most beautiful thing there is,
but what is life, after all?
We must define it,
or forever search the darkness.
We must succeed,
or take the blame for the fall.

Is a rock alive?
Of course not!
but then again
the most modest grain of sand
will surely out-live you!

Is a virus alive?
or a bug, or grass or a squirrel?
These things “live”,
but without self-conception,
are nothing more
than nature’s automatons
reproducing, pain avoiding, pleasure seeking machines.
How can they be “alive”?

After all, what is life, without a knowledge of life?
to be alive, one must know one is alive,
and must also know
that life is no guarantee,
not even of life itself,
for we all must die.
The road we’re on will surely end,
life’s single guarantee,
is that death is our destiny!
Life is the journey!

It seems to me
we must seek to be
more than just automatons.
To think, before we act,
to choose temporary pain
over spirit killing fear,
to choose life over death,
and choose death
over a life not lived!

We must choose to help each other
for we shall surely need help ourselves,
I want to live in a world of love and understanding,
and the strength of forgiveness
toward those who trespass against me,
in hope that my trespasses
shall be forgiven in kind.

For what are we?
we are social creatures,
driven by our nature
toward contact with one another
for better or worse!
Companionship,
unlike air, food, water,
is not what makes life possible,
it’s what makes life worth living!

Which is why
I come down from my mountain,
to face the throngs,
and fight the crowds in their misery,
and repress the insanity,
if just for today,
to laugh and cry with my friends…


Dan Bryce