A letter can a difference make
When misfortune or suffering in life arrive ...
and they will ...
A choice will arise

Bitter or better
a simple letter
makes all the difference

Plunge, as victim, in free fall
or venture to grow within the agony
In irate tempest shut out all
or break open your heart in empathy

To churn and spin in sullen ire
or endure within the fire
Burn selfward in internal strife
or engage with external life

To surrender to the ill-cast dice
Or defy with quiet humility
allow irascibility to become a vice
or dare climb to equanimity

this is no call to celebrate
this fall into agonizing fate
it recognizes a call to voice
amidst oft unwanted choice

caught often betwixt and between
and amid much wavering
between the bitter and the better
caught in the middle of a letter

Originally written: 7/6/2024