I’d like To Say

I’d like To Say

 

I’d like to say

That I am good,

And always do the things I should,

And strive to do the best I could

If only I would.

 

I’d like to say

I always try

To take the blindfold from my eye,

And do not judge the passer-by.

And yet, the truth I can’t deny.

 

I’d like to say that I am meek,

And always turn the other cheek,

That worldly goods I do not seek.

Yet I am weak.

I’d like to say I do my best.

Living every day with zest.

Strong enough to pass the test.

I miss the mark

Like all the rest.

 

Yet all I see

Is what is me,

Failing so abysmally.

Have I the strength to just break free

From worldliness that entraps me?

 

I’d like to say

I’ll shed the skin

That ties me to the world I’m in,

So much a part of earthly sin.

Where do I begin?

 

The choice remains

That I must make.

Why is the right road hard to take?

These worldly ways I must forsake

For my own sake.

I’d like To Say

 

I’d like to say

That I am good,

And always do the things I should,

And strive to do the best I could

If only I would.

 

I’d like to say

I always try

To take the blindfold from my eye,

And do not judge the passer-by.

And yet, the truth I can’t deny.

 

I’d like to say that I am meek,

And always turn the other cheek,

That worldly goods I do not seek.

Yet I am weak.

I’d like to say I do my best.

Living every day with zest.

Strong enough to pass the test.

I miss the mark

Like all the rest.

 

Yet all I see

Is what is me,

Failing so abysmally.

Have I the strength to just break free

From worldliness that entraps me?

 

I’d like to say

I’ll shed the skin

That ties me to the world I’m in,

So much a part of earthly sin.

Where do I begin?

 

The choice remains

That I must make.

Why is the right road hard to take?

These worldly ways I must forsake

For my own sake.

By Loretta Hegarty

This poem was first published in The Scribblers Vol 4 1999