Cowardice grips me tight
and guides me in all the wrong directions-
like a puppet I go where it wants
I flee from Commitment, from Growth
and float aimlessly in pools of despair
created as a byproduct of Cowardice’s actions

there are times where Bravery finds me
floating by solemnly, head barley above water-
it releases me from my shackles
and in those times I remember how to swim
I remember how to command my own limbs
and I emerge and I stand, to face down Fear

but inevitably
inevitably
Cowardice finds me once more
and when I blink the chains return
and it pulls me in all the wrong directions
leaving me craving Bravery’s warmth
just out of reach now, I grasp for it over and over
but I-
I just
can’t
reach