Red-Headed

When dragons have to be slain & demons vanquished
It is the hero within ourselves that we have to discover.

Because we are all heroes in our separate ways
& the tragedy of reality is far more real.

Whether the recently bereaved carrying on with a life
Or the unemployed desperately trying to make ends meet,

Or those who are ill, or in pain, or a third world child walking miles
For a glass of clean water & an education.

Or just the daily toil of making a living, paying the bills,
Being a parent or just being the best that you can possibly be.

I agree with Maeterlink, it is a world of cruel responsibility
That sometimes just seems so hard to face up to.

Nobody needs to be brave & cunning Ulysses
Our lives are not epic poems, or even a picaresque novel.

No Cyclops to fool, no Circe to be evaded, no Ithaca to return to.
No Hafgan slain by Pwyll, no Grendel slaughtered by Beowulf.

It is enough to know that we tried & didn't relinquish
& slaughtered our dragons & vanquished our demons, eventually.