Do you know my husband? If you don't, he's a person worth knowing :).
Almost twelve years ago he wrote a poem that recently resurfaced for us. First, let me say that Zion is not a poet. It was a school project he did when he was knee-deep in a very hard season. In fact, it was at the end of his senior year - a year in which an illusive sickness had limited him to attending something like only 20 days of his entire senior year. Failure seemed to want to take him down at every turn.
Although he hasn't written poetry since, something special happened when he wrote this one. It's worth sharing because we've all been face to face with the giant of failure and some of us may even be fighting against it with all we have right now.
Be encouraged my friend. You're not alone.
The Ember by Zion Spencer
May 23, 2001
Failure is like the ash
surrounding ember's glow,
The prudent one will keep in mind
That which does not show.
How many fail to recognize
the fire ablaze within,
Some will even stoop to say,
"It will never shine again".
The ashes only share a side
of the ember's tale,
One musn't assume by them
The ember's doomed to fail.
The point at which it's overcome
and the ember does not return:
When it succubms to the ashes,
Thus ceasing to burn.
So many choose retrospect
pond'ring the light & warmth it could give,
Stuck on the ember's past,
The memories they try to relive.
Determination ignites!
Persistence is a ful.
Combustion's going to come,
When one makes these his rule.
Failure is not final
for a moment it will last,
Look adversity in the eye,
Then choose to press on past!
