The Gift

We’re alive

We’ve been told it’s a gift

That’s the riff

That we sing to

The trouble

We pull through

The dance

We engage in

While the stage

We stand upon

Is filled with actors

As we swing

From the rafters

Like monkeys

In a cage

Hoping that being alive

Is proof that

We will easily thrive

But some of us suspect

That we’re here

Without respect

To personal feelings

With no voice in the matter

Like the mad hatter

In. the midst of confusion

With a gift we didn’t ask for

And a life that’s a delusion

Yet like the other actors

we continue to pretend

We keep on smiling

And dancing and acting

Until the bloody end

What else can we do my friend

We were given a gift

That We couldn’t refuse

And handed a promise

That we had everything to gain

And nothing to lose.

~ Teresa Roberts 2024