Magnificent Desolation

The strongest man in the world is not the one who always towers over his challengers

Boasting the undefeated record, whose has never met a challenge that he didn’t overcome

Or the woman who manages to look perfect, act perfect and construct the perfect web

Of relationships and security, of appearances and approval, an image of perfection

Rather it is those who have faced the magnificent desolation of failure and rose again

Who can encounter the magnificent desolation and learn to see its beauty

Past the judging eyes of those caught within their own insecurities and crystalline lives

Who have had their worth, their beauty, their strength, and their very souls questioned

Those who watched their past lives vanish in a flash of light and out of the remnants

Rose again to reenter the arena, to risk again to create, to love, to try, to fight and to fail

Who have endured the gaping maw of anxiety and the abyssal pit of depression

Who may still feel the black bile occasionally creep back into their veins threatening to consume them

Or at random times have to remember to breath and quiet their heart as it pounds within their chest

Learning how to live in the aftermath of both failure and success

And find a way to learn from the past without letting it define them

Who know the grace of not needing to seek a better past or a perfect present

And can look to the future without losing sight of the gifts of the day

Who have the courage to lean on others at the times when their minds or bodies fail

And the compassion to stand with others in their desolations and celebrations

Neil White, 2014

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