True Heights

by Guy Finley

It may not always seem so, but everyone wages
The best battle possible at the time.
When challenges come, we stand as upright as stature allows,
And life delivers the inevitable blow that bends the will to break.

Is that greatly religious, wise, or wealthy person lying there,
Worn and torn on the ground, any less shattered
Than the one who, despite all effort, loses the little so hard won?
I think not.
None are better; none are worse in their weakness.
All are equal in this light.

If the passage of time reduces all to this lowliest of places,
If none may win other than momentary pride,
Then perhaps the true heights are best measured
Not by where one has once stood,
But by what rises in one's heart even as it falls to the ground.

Look at what one reaches for in his darkest hour,
And you gaze upon his God.