Colin F. Jones

FORTITUDE

Courage requires fear and fear requires threat,
Fortitude is required when both things are met,
The incessant dawdling pain that brings us lasting woe,
Dwindles natural virtue as its afflictions slowly grow.
That great inner substance of which we are made,
The fortitude that guards us falters and fades.
Tis then we plead to God asking why, oh why;
To live with such agony is better than to die.
Yet we carry on regardless knowing there is no gain,
That until the day we die we must suffer awful pain.
It is connected to our thinking to what we believe,
To the truth that gives us strength and what we perceive.
For our thoughts control reactions until courage is lost,
When we calmly face our demons indifferent of the cost.