by Bob Fergeson
We climb inside our pride to hide,
digging holes to crawl inside.
To run from Fear inside a tear,
we run inside our Pride to hide.
Why does life seem so hard to try?
Turn left, back right,
I can’t decide.
Fear blocks my skill, what’s left, pride kills,
I run inside vast pride to hide.
At the end of every year
I shed a tear for every fear
that drives poor souls the whole world wide
to crawl inside their pride to hide.
The warning whispered in Caesars’ ear
should not have been for a time of year
but to give him heed to that inside,
Oh, Caesar! keep watch on the Ides of Pride.
Where are my father, mother, siblings three?
They all have sailed far out to sea,
driven by fear and self-tyranny,
they sailed back into pride, you see.
To build stone towers on islands each,
to fly the flag of pride above the breach.
This, they hope, keeps fear across the moat
but ties their souls with tight black ropes.
And safe within their castle keep,
safe from fear, safe in sleep,
kept prisoner by Fear’s mighty tide,
they lie inside their pride and hide.
Cry humble tears where the paradox lies,
not boast of things that live, then die.
Come forth to stand in the light of day,
your gaze looks back on the world of clay,
no fear, no moan, no cry of dismay.
Climb out the trench where we all lie,
stand firm in Truth, don’t fear the lies,
shake off the dark, dank cloud of Pride.
Don’t fight too hard, don’t try to hide, just
let it be, this curse of Pride.
To humble be, is a trick you see,
it leads you round to Pride’s vast sea.