Day 8

Prompt: On this day, we were asked to use a line from another poet's work as the seed for our own. I chose a line from John Dryden's "When I consider life", where he wrote, "When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat."

The Promise of Life

When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat,

The illusion of control, obsolete.

Existence precedes essence,

Mortality, morality, life lessons

While bathed in despair,

In a battle of purpose,

this poet wonders and asks a question,

When did life promise anything?

Did life agree to health, wealth and a reason for being?

All one can say is life promised life

Not absent of sickness, poverty or strife

We define, we desire and we deprive

Yet blame life for keeping us alive...