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Life Poems
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The Lion Path is one of those life poems that shows us that often what we believe to be true... is true - but only for ourselves. So if you think you can't do something, then you can't, while someone else who believes they can... can. The reality of your world is only one reality; it is not the only reality. And most times, what you "think" is there to trip you up - your reason for not being able to do something - isn't even in your way. Here is a short parable to illustrate this point:
| Admiral Dupont was explaining to Farragut his reasons for not taking his ironclads into Charleston harbor. "You haven't given me the main reason yet," said Farragut. "What's that?" asked Admiral Dupont. "You didn't think you could do it," replied Farragut. So the man who thinks he can't pass a lion, can't. But the man who thinks he can, can. Indeed, he oftentimes finds that the lion isn't really there at all. |
The Lion Path
I dare not!--
Look! the road is very dark--
The trees stir softly and the bushes shake,
The long grass rustles, and the darkness moves
Here! there! beyond--!
There's something crept across the road just now!
And you would have me go--?
Go there, through that live darkness, hideous
With stir of crouching forms that wait to kill?
Ah, look! See there! and there! and there again!
Great yellow, glassy eyes, close to the ground!
Look! Now the clouds are lighter I can see
The long slow lashing of the sinewy tails,
And the set quiver of strong jaws that wait--!
Go there? Not I! Who dares to go who sees
So perfectly the lions in the path?
Comes one who dares.
Afraid at first, yet bound
On such high errand as no fear could stay.
Forth goes he, with lions in his path.
And then--?
He dared a death of agony--
Outnumbered battle with the king of beasts--
Long struggles in the horror of the night--
Dared, and went forth to meet--O ye who fear!
Finding an empty road, and nothing there--
And fences, and the dusty roadside trees--
Some spitting kittens, maybe, in the grass.
~Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 - 1935)
Gillman was a prominent American poet, non-fiction writer, short story writer, novelist, lecturer, and social reformer. She is best remembered today for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, based on her own bout with severe depression.
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