Courage

Courage dwells not in the fight, for

The melee yields no vindication.

The truly brave will find a way

To mediate a situation fraught

With angst and argument,

A good old-fashioned donnybrook.

Tis in the pause he finds a cause

To contemplate a second look.

 

Comes a time when courage means

The acumen to walk away

When bellicose belligerence might

Seem the watchword of the day.

But lion’s roar and tiger’s teeth

Expire on the spit,

While prudence and discretion are

The archetype of true grit.

 

There is a grace in courage

To impede the inner fiend,

To rein the fire of unrest and

Capture dawning’s gleam.