Treasure

How many treasures, sought and claimed

How many battles won

How many mountains scaled and named

How many wrongs undone

How many journeys without end

Triumphantly returned

How many foes to win a friend

How many lessons learned?

The world affords a vast array

Of Hero’s flags (and scars)

It’s sirens hold our hearts in sway

And blind our eyes with stars

But rarely is it writ the cost

To be to Fortune bound…

It’s ignorance of treasures lost

That far outshine those found

What precious stone from grudging earth

What riches mounded high

Can match the beauty, or the worth

Of love in a child’s eye?

No glory gained, no fame decreed

No triumph man has known

Can satisfy a single need

As well as love alone

Oh Lord, this world is full of pain

False promises and lies

Of lessons learned, and learned again

While love, abandoned, dies

But grant one prayer, and change will start

One gift to see us through

That we might (through our strength and heart)

Know treasure false from true.