The Gift Of Power! Poem by Joe Fraccalvieri

They were with me from the beginning--
but it was time for them to go

They didn't speak a word, but what I thought I heard
was that they seemed to say, 'We must be on our way',
and the high-hopes I once had were now low

I begged them to stay, 'Please… Just one more hour.'
But before they were gone… Before they turned away
Before their bitter-sweet mood became sour--
I felt my spirits lift and my body sway--
for they gave me a gift of power

They slapped thunder in my left hand--
and slipped lightning in my right
Then they taped my fingers into fists
and sewed the gloves on tight
until the night moved into morning--
and the morning passed through the night

I trained and trained… Through sleet and rain…
My body-- drained… Muscles would strain
From sex, I abstained-- until all I could feel was pain

I fought with them at first--
as they brought me to the brink of battle...
Delirious from thirst-- thinking they might kill me
like we would kill our cattle

But they must have smelled my fears--
the ground hissed like a rattlesnake's rattle
the sound kissed the lobes of my ears
My soul sensed compassion in their prattle
while my eyes welled up with tears
I then stood up to meet my challenge
when my enemy entered the ring…
And I wondered-- were I to be called to Heaven--
what could I possibly bring?

They patted me swiftly on the back
as I stepped up to face the foe--
and with what would become my final attack
I found that there was nowhere to run
though I had everywhere to go!

No longer black-- no longer white--
Grey was the morning-- Grey was the night--
Grey was the day that would have been
before there was ever light

There was no more darkness-- no more fright--
Grey was the way the world had been
before that fateful fight

No longer was there blindness--
or what we consider sight
because Grey was the color of Truth--
long before wrong or right

And when I regained my senses
from this struggle so long ago
I came back to the world I thought I knew
holding secrets that no one would know

But there's one thing that I can tell you--
and don't take my word that it's so
Just ask him, whom I fought, if it's true…
His name, I remember-- was Joe!