Measure of a Man in Poetry is the Window to the Soul...

I wonder what it is that defines a man.

Is it the way a man responds in the face of adversity? When the situation inevitably presents itself in life where there is no good action to be taken, there is no win to be found, and only suffering, pain and loss are the outcome what is it you do?

How do you answer that frightening, often crippling, moment?

Is it the avoidance of failure so that you live a life replete with safe options always present?

Is it walking a dangerous line in which one slight miscue might lead to a horrible result and managing to do it without incident?

Is it the way you live your life and treat everyone you encounter as if that is the only glimpse anyone will ever know of you?

Is it how when you’re lost in thought and alone without consequence how you think, feel, and act?

Is the measure of a man in his actual achievements or rather the method in which he goes about the pursuit of them?

Are you forever stained by your trespasses?

Can there be redemption and reclamation when all you have done is tried and perhaps failed to a staggering degree more than the next?

In this moment, the present, is this not where we live?

Fighting for the future and attempting to outwork the past?

Does it matter more to you what was done or what can be?

I am trying my best.

The measure of a man.