Beware your heroes
You may become them
And the heroes I like
Never lived an easy life
Watch your admiration
Where it drifts
Who it casts
Because the people I admire
Never lived an easy life
Watch your discipline
and discernment
Strive to make them right
Because the things that I discarded
Did not make an easy life
Easy roads and hard roads
Are disparate in their end
And the one we choose to walk down
Begins
Where we intend
I was walking and thinking of Cheryl Strayed, a favourite author of mine. Which, once I began naming them, was when I realised that many of my favourite authors and poets did not lead easy lives.
Rather, their wisdom often came from overcoming difficult or painful circumstances and their great talent lay in communicating their journey into words that resonate.
And then I thought of my heroes. Favourite characters from books, movies and real life.
And it dawned on me that who we admire, we may very well begin to emulate even, and often, unconsciously.
And suddenly a great many things made sense, hence, the above poem.
Header photo: I’ve used it before, taken in the Brisbane botanical gardens one morning after a run. Which reminds me, I need to get back to running.
