Today

Today I will live,

Because tomorrow I may forget.

Today I will be kind,

For all the times I haven't yet.

Baseball's a game of failure:

Some coach said the other day,

Espousing how it teaches

Kids to fail and yet to stay.

Life is mostly failure,

But that's the bit we all can do.

The difficulty is

In the winning sometimes too.

The lessons had in failure

Are no automatic thing.

To simply fail and try again

No victory will bring.

It takes more than endurance,

More than willful stubbornness,

It takes some living conscious

Of reward and consequence.

Yet failure's just a lesson,

A botched experiment,

Useful, yes, to analyze,

But never to lament.

So resolution rising –

Though as likely not to stand –

Is to strike the bull between the horns

Whenever – if – I can.

To act here in this moment,

Though with guard against my past,

Still regardless for if any first

May also be a last.