Pride
comes
before a fall
a fall
becomes
the humbling of a man
a man's very being
value and worth
brought into question
his soul revealed
his heart aches with humility
stops short of seeing him as anything
mortal and sinful, wretched flesh
clinging to a skeletal structure
in which weakness and strength battle
in a war between self-belief and egotism
in which good and bad are on the same axis
a man should have humbling pride
in what he is worth
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: This works in reverse! This was a "never had time to fit it in for the Inverse challenge". Felt a waste not publishing it.
Here are some others you can take a look at:
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
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By Harper Lewis5 days ago in Fiction
Comments (7)
Well done! How nice it would be to balance humility and pride just right.
Pride leads to humility. Your poem captures this journey vividly. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, Paul! You really plum the depths in this whichever way you read it. The struggle between recognizing our own dignity without surrendering to over preening pride. I especially loved the line in which good and bad are on the same axis. It feels right to me.
I'm so sorry this didn't make it into the challenge 🥺 It worked so well both ways! Very Paulitical! 🍩🥐
An exception to this would be the stunt man or woman. They're proud of the fall they just took. Love the poem, either way I read it.
I really enjoyed the inverse. Humility is being truly honest with one’s self. Not easy
Really superb! Humility hurts and is hard but brings beautiful clarity. This is an excellent poem and works well as an inverse!