<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Courage </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">It is in the small things we see it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The child's first step,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">as awesome as an earthquake.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The first time you rode a bike,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">wallowing up the sidewalk.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The first spanking when your heart</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">went on a journey all alone.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">When they called you crybaby</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">or poor or fatty or crazy</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and made you into an alien,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">you drank their acid</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and concealed it. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Later,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">if you faced the death of bombs and bullets</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">you did not do it with a banner,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">you did it with only a hat to</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">cover your heart.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">You did not fondle the weakness inside you</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">though it was there.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Your courage was a small coal</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">that you kept swallowing.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">If your buddy saved you</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and died himself in so doing,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">then his courage was not courage,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Later,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">if you have endured a great despair,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">then you did it alone,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">getting a transfusion from the fire,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">picking the scabs off your heart,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">then wringing it out like a sock.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">you gave it a back rub</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and then you covered it with a blanket</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and after it had slept a while</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">it woke to the wings of the roses</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and was transformed.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Later,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">when you face old age and its natural conclusion</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">your courage will still be shown in the little ways,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">those you love will live in a fever of love,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and you'll bargain with the calendar</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and at the last moment</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">when death opens the back door</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">you'll put on your carpet slippers</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and stride out.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>- Anne Sexton</div><div class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class=""></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">"the path to heaven</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> doesn’t lie down in flat miles.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> It’s in the imagination</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> with which you perceive</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> this world,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> and the gestures</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> with which you honor it.”</div></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Mary Oliver</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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