On The Lament Of Man

 At the deepest, darkest, lowest point of the abyss lies your true self. It is at the bottom of the vast emptiness that you will meet your absolute weakness and greatest strengths, and the specters of your soul that would stay there. When met with grief, with true melancholy, you will know just how much strength you yet have in the corners of your heart, and whether or not you can still fight, whether you can still stand or not. In that true void, beneath your shadow, let your willpower boil up into a passionate frenzy of anguish, of lament, and of momentum. Though the future likely holds depths beyond your fathoming, you must ride that willpower forward into the future, for better or worse, for to give up is the true failure and the ultimate shame. 

 Where no one dare tread let alone peek you will find your own monsters. Those that would inhibit you, shackle you to your past, have you wallow in the shade of the peaks that hide from you the purest rays of sunshine you know cannot now reach you. They are your monsters to fight, to best and to conquer. Even those twice your height and breadth will surely fall were you only to muster the courage to bridle the steed that is your willpower and ride forth into tomorrow. Faster, stronger, may you push forth and ascend the cliffs of the chasm in pursuit of that light. You are alone, but that is your honor and your blessing. Only you can save yourself. Let that darkness boil over and fasten its shape to your own, as armor, as sword, and as the very fuel with which you might propel yourself from the fissure. One step at a time, every step stronger and more able to carry that weight with respect for yourself, and for others who do the same, and without pride to shun those who cannot lest you become them. As a beacon so harshly lit in their eyes you will stand victorious, a model for which they might learn their own power to push through and charge after their own dreams, for all the success and failure that lay in wait. Only look back to see how far you’ve come; long not for the path you’ve already traversed or it will call to those horrors you fought so hard to overcome. 

 Let no man call it easy or pleasant. Those words are reserved for the fool and the feeble and you are neither. You are the man you chiseled from marble to shine with the glory of your spirit as it ever reaches for the stars. Leave that armor of malice and shame upon your broad shoulders so that those demons are unable to deny you victory in even darker and lower dips in your path. Hide not your spark nor your shadow, but ride humbly forth with both firmly within your grasp, sheathed at your hip and ever presently available. You are your own future, and your fathers future, just as he was his and your sons will be theirs. No matter how dark it gets you must ride forth on your own. Sooner than later you will feel the warmth of the day once more, even more formidable than before, never ready but ever able to withstand the next night and all the darkness it may bring. For in that night is where we see those stars we ever reach for.