Is This Hard Enough?
A self-love poem about how difficult things truly are.
You asked me if things were hard enough
When we first tried to write an article together
To an important magazine at the age of twelve.
And you asked me if things were hard enough
When we stayed up all night
The night before the maths final exam
To woozily memorise every single formula
And jam out to weirdly catchy Youtube algebra songs.
You asked me if things were hard enough
When our best friends hurt themselves
And all our counselling seemed powerless to stop them.
And you asked me if things were hard enough
Every time you got up with a mic in front of hundreds of eyes
To ask a thoughtful question.
You asked me if things were hard enough
When your heart pound hard enough to burst
When you were running in a ten kilometre marathon.
And you asked me if things were hard enough
After our literature essays were ripped to pieces
By your knowledgeable and wry tutor
Or when there were piano keys you couldn’t memorise
Loneliness you couldn’t fight through or
Lethargy you couldn’t break
Writing hundreds of pages
For a novel that still seemed impossible to complete
You asked me if things were hard enough.
Well guess what, little one
We got through each one of those seasons of life
Past each step on the road
Walking briskly in the light ahead
Haven’t you already realised something yet?
I am your best friend.
I exist within you, as you
And I will never give up on you.
So don’t ask me if things are hard enough
Because they never truly are
They just have to be broken down with a hammer
So you can digest them piece by piece
Put them together like a jigsaw
Because it’s not half as fearsome, broken down like that
It can be done, you realise
It can be done.
Once started, it’s already half done.
But process is the purpose
Process is the joy
Process is that memorable memory
One step per day is all it takes
Remember that, my best friend.
