Struggling To Live Poem by Shalom Freedman

Anxieties and worried anticipations
Imagined worst-case-scenario disasters
The early morning bed lying mind
Defending itself by foretelling its destruction
The sickness of the soul

And then the slow contradiction
Of first prayer of gratitude for being alive
And the wake-up of coffee
And the turning upward that writing gives

Over and over
Day after day
Struggling to live
Against myself
For myself
And those I care about

Struggling to live