The Will and The Way

There’s a common phrase all optimists say,
“Where there’s a will, my friend, there’s always a way.”
No calamity, crisis, or evil curse
can cause humankind to set in reverse
our determination to finally succeed,
our passion to help in the face of need.
There’s always a way to make things right
in the midst of even the darkest night
when all seems lost, no one cares,
and complacency marks the state of affairs.

The Will and the Way, two sometimes friends.
Isn’t it sad that our efforts end,
sometimes before they even begin,
when the way is clear but the will can’t be found,
and need cries out, an inaudible sound,
that pain and misery are present still
for the lack of a common, human will.

I fear we’ll look back and sadly say:
“It could have been a different way.”
If only we’d had the courage to stand
and confront the source of evil’s demands.
“If only…” we’ll say in the chaos and strife,
how did we let the grandeur of life
succumb to the forces that finally  kill
the desire and power of human will.

“Where there’s a will, my friend, there’s always a way,”
but that truth seems lost on this sad summer day.
Little by little all virtue’s been lost
and for that we now pay a very high cost.
Like children lost in fantasy play,
we will awake and rue the day
when we feel the cold and bitter chill
of who we’ve become for the lack of will.