FIGHT

when facing that stone of Sisyphus
rolling back down towards you: FIGHT
when disease rears its ugly mug during the
grain-of-sand-split-second-moment we
call life: FIGHT
when everything you have worked for your
entire existence is stolen from you in a
flash: FIGHT
when you’re told that if you do not obey
that you, your loved ones & any future you
may possibly have is in jeopardy unless
you get down on your knees: FIGHT
when you’ve been labeled, determined, and
others try to predict your every move (as if
they could plot it on a graph): FIGHT
when conflict is said to be only fuel for the
greater fire: FIGHT
when others fold & try to force you
psychologically or physically to do as they have
done: FIGHT
when having words will no longer do, when
negotiations are over: FIGHT
when locked up & the key has been thrown away:
FIGHT
when cast out, in the street, looking to beg: FIGHT
when threatened with financial ruin, when threatened
with “damnation:” FIGHT
and when those that want you dead are asleep: FIGHT
when they are awake: FIGHT
when you’ve not a friend in the world: FIGHT
when you come to the realization that there is nothing
else beyond this world: FIGHT
throw fists. throw fists. throw fists. throw fists.
again & again & again & again & again & again,
until your knuckles are so bloody rubbed raw that the
bones are popping out---then fight with those popped
out bones. because to throw in the towel means that
they win.