Footprints = Silver Lining

This powerful poem was sent to me by my dear kindred friend the wonderful Rory Walkinshaw who has known me since I was 15. His words moved me so deeply I had to share them and give them sunlight on this cyberspace. How perfectly timed his message comes, as always, when I am analyzing whether free will or destiny has more power.


"
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. "


The poem has nothing to do with me, or at least in the literal sense. That's why i put "You" as the subject heading. The poem, probably more than any other piece of art I've seen or read lately, represents, to me, you and, to my opinion, what you are all about and how I see you. It represents, more than anything else, what I view to be one of, if not the, biggest strengths that you possess: resilience, self-determination, survival instinct, and the absolute refusal to be beaten down and stay down. Perhaps it's because I am Irish that I find this to be your most admirable quality, among other amazing qualities. I have seen you, or talked to you, in many, many times (more than I can count) when you have felt that the entire world was collapsing, all seemed lost and hopeless, etc..... BUT....you pulled through! You ALWAYS pull through, get back up, no matter what! It seems to me, that you are, in the long term, perhaps not invincible, but certainly unbreakable. I remember reading a book once on the British SAS (Special Air Service) that went into detail about their SERE (Survival Escape Resistance and Evasion) exercises. The kind where the trainers "capture" you and put you through a simulated EPW (enemy prisoner of war) interrogation. They shout at you, run power tools near your head, etc..... all to see how long it takes to break you. It takes nerves of concrete and fucking steel to survive the course and that is what you have in surplus. It is possibly the thing that I love the most about you and every time I see your strength displayed, it makes me love you even more. At this point I am blowing nonsense out of my ass, and you don't have to keep reading, but I had to send the poem to you because, to me, it is an exposition and a testament to your endurance as a human being. You are the smartest, most determined person I know. You are strong, you are cunning, you are resourceful. Nothing can bring you down. The shit that the world brings against you will never conquer you nor destroy you. You are unstoppable. You are the most beautiful goddess in existence and that is not an over exaggeration. Physically, mentally, intellectually, you are what the Greeks call a perfect enosis (union) of everything that is to be respected and loved. "




If you're reading this Ror, it is true friends and individuals like you that keep me going. Thank you, immeasureably for your unwavering confidence and belief in me. Even though you're a thousand miles away you're always a pillar of strength that holds me up. Whatever you see of the best of me, is a reflection of you. For just as great thoughts attract other great thoughts, great beings attract other beings, we are all magnets attracting that which is like us.
For you to see greatness in me is only a testament to your own.