POETRY | OPTIMISM

Luck, Fate, And Free Will

Why Fret and Fume?

Photo by Evgeniya Litovchenko on Unsplash

We live by the choices we make, they said.
We live by what we choose.
Is fate and free will, then, the same,
Or is luck our protagonist?

Shall we believe in Destiny, then,
Does the moving finger write?
And once written,
Can anyone, alter a line, or two?

Can we change the course our life will take,
Redraw the map of life?
Between the dust that bore,
And the dust that’ll bury us,
Is there room for more?

If nothing is certain, nothing abides,
And all we’re sure of, is today,
Why fret and fume, the livelong day,
Or plan and ponder, in vain?

Let’s smile, then, and be of good cheer
Delete the prodigious frown,
For the days, they pass,
The months, they move,
Shall we last the year? Who knows?

ⓒ 2023 Suma Narayan. All Rights Reserved.

Shoutout to two writers and friends who fill my inbox and notifications page with smiles, hugs and bushels of positivity:

Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles:

Women I Admire Every Day — They Are My Sheroes

A Wise Woman Adapts Herself To Circumstances

And Margie Willis:

This Trek on These Legs

Have Mercy

This poem is partly a response to one of Ravyne Hawke’s prompts in

Prompt Yourself: Weekly Prompts Mar 13–19