Speak Up by Mark Scherz

Speak Up by Mark Scherz

Sometimes speaking up
and finding inner pride
takes more than just the willing
determination to decide;
it takes a grit of steel
to steel yourself to speak;
to loose the weight of iron,
though rewards may now seem bleak.

Though the words come hard and slow,
if you don’t speak, you’ll never know;
you’ll never get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’;
you’ll never get a ‘stay’ or ‘go’.
A man who speaks, and fails, still wins
but a man in silence loses,
and in his loss he must take pride;
enshrouded in excuses.

If you live like leaves in spring
blown about by wind,
then Fall will come and snatch you off,
and falling, you’ll be pinned.
But even leaves have roots, of sorts,
in branches in the trees;
there’s iron in their grip there
to protect them from the breeze.

So speak up, leaf; don’t be shy.
Take a risk and say it.
Look deep within yourself;
hear your heart; obey it.
Speak your heart, and not your mind
for honesty therein lies.
Broken, speak out truly,
and say your fond goodbyes.

Speak Up by Mark Scherz