Life’s Great!
This poem was written several months after I was discharged from hospital and had returned to work. It is one of two poems which show how my moods could swing fairly dramatically, probably due to depression. This poem is upbeat and optimistic; the other—The Death Knell—is sombre and reflective.
It's great!
It's great to be alive.
It's so good
It's hard to
believe!
That I'm here,
Actually here and living—
In
this world at this time—
Able to enjoy life,
To live it
to its fullest,
To rejoice in God's Creation,
Is almost too
much.
It's so hard to believe.
It's great!
I have so
much to be thankful for,
Everything to gain…
Nothing
to lose…
As I live this life.
Sure, things go
wrong
But they're an insignificant cloud
On the
horizon.
And after all
Wouldn't life be boring
If it was
perfect—
If nothing went wrong?
Sure, there are
things wrong with the world;
But so what?
The world is
people,
And while there are people
The world can't be
perfect.
But people are the world's one hope.
As long as
there are still people
There is still hope
That the world's
wrongs
May be made right.
Sure, there are things wrong
with people.
Sure, we all have our faults,
But people
wouldn't be people
Without faults.
No…people are
great!
The world is great!
And life is great!
I thank
God for people.
I thank God for the world.
I thank God for
life.
And I thank God I'm alive.
• Written 19 August 1971. Copyright © 1999-2010 Alien Son. All rights reserved.