Days of Reckoning
by
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An Idle Mind
~
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
H.G. Bohn, Hand-Book of Proverbs
~
Where is your place and where are
you to be,
Questions an idle mind listening to
itself in the quiet,
For an idle mind is anything but inactive,
It stews in its vanity and having no
Employment feels free to kick open
Every door and enjoy the idle chatter
Of guilt or expound on any inadequacy
Th at would chirp: You’re shiftless and lazy.
Finally, under the yoke of anxiety and the
Pressure from an idle mind’s pummeling,
One seeks any activity to shut it up:
Any mindless activity that stifl es un-occupied
thoughts,
Until the last submission; The last quell
That yearns to find conversation with another
idle mind.
I Met Me
~
Sometimes too much drink is barely enough.
Mark Twain
~
I kicked down every gin mill’s door I
could find,
And danced into the dawn cussing
With a woman in one hand and a
bottle in the other.
I laughed and talked smart enough with
People I knew and rogues I’d never met
before.
I slept with the women I wanted and I paid
For it along the way with cash or borrowed
money: It made no diff erence.
I cheated and I lied more times than I can count
And many good men died before the likes
of me.
The devil took his turn with me,
Tried real hard to move me to hell, but I
told him I’d already been there.
Yeah, I tried real hard to make things hard:
I was good at it,
Then on a day of reckoning, I woke and I
met me.
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About the Book
Life challenges each of us uniquely, and yet, we all have our days of reckoning—days that demand we choose one path or another, and in so doing, plot our spiritual life journey.
Days of Reckoning is an autobiographical collection that chronicles these choices and presents the resulting evolution of character. The poems included in this collection vividly depict a range of life conflicts and emotional upheaval.
We observe the depravity of abuse; the tragic, mind-numbing experience of rejected love; the disintegration which occurs upon the death of a parent; and the epiphanies that result from the day-to-day prevalence of cruelty. But rather than lead us down a road of despair, these poems present strategies for envisioning our hardships as creative instruments—another means of defining ourselves.
Days of Reckoning suggests that our struggles define and, potentially, refine our character, offering each of us an opportunity to advance our moral strength and spirituality.
About the Author
Ronald McCann has written over two thousand pieces about the human condition and the experiences that people endure in their lives. His first book, Angels and Leprechauns, was written for those who have experienced abuse or have had trouble resolving difficult problems in their lives. He lives and works in southeastern Wisconsin.