Secret of Success
You say you want to know (and others too) The shining secret of my life’s success; My ten-step, rags-to-riches recipe And my ascendant path to happiness. Do you mean the grail of heroes’ quest? Is that the secret you were hoping for? Tales of dreaming big and acting boldly; Of stumbling upon fortune’s golden door? Alas, the hidden truth (invisible Behind the bright myth of a master plan) Is that, no sooner is the mask removed, Than cracks appear in the sun-bronzed tan. My dark secret is that things fall apart Almost nightly in the shadows of fame, When the glaring spotlights of intrigue fade And fragile self-esteem crumbles to shame. My hushed secret is that the booming voice Becomes a gnawing whisper of self-doubt In the echoing caves of solitude; An endless maze where only demons shout. My small secret is that the starlit rise Shines bright against a black, black empty sky; And even as the peacock struts its plumes, Its wings are clipped short and it cannot fly. The secret of my success … is failure (If you, and others too, still want to know); It’s scrambling across the yawning chasm Between where I am and where I must go. It’s waking up hungry for self-respect And going to bed thirsty for respite From the chattering voices in my head That tease with vivid dreams of flight. It’s stretching and striving and surviving The onslaught of seeing the potential At the edges of my unsettled state Of relentless angst that’s existential. It’s throwing a rope across the river Daily, between what is and what could be; It’s showing the world, not the best I’ve got, But the best bits I want them to see. To succeed in life is to fail and fail And still keep giving more than you can take. My secret of success, since you did ask, Is to know what’s real from all that is fake.Wayne Visser © 2011
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Secret of Success (poem)
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