Beyond Your Fear
By Don Iannone

You can't be but afraid
when loneliness fills the well
from where you draw your hope.
You can't be but afraid
when night lingers in your heart
and drowns your smile
before your lips can try it on.
You can't be but afraid
when the whispering of the wind
shouts and echoes in your deepest places,
and you can't stop
what was never intended to be.
You can't help but being afraid
knowing that being afraid will, forever
preclude those possibilities
not seeing their own end.
You can't be but afraid
looking back at yourself
in the rearview mirror of time
that reflects only what you can see about yourself.
You can't be but afraid
as your next breath threatens to be
your last breath, before
your next breath arises.
In all this being afraid,
you just might lose yourself long enough
to find something else--
something more worthwhile
than the fear you hold onto.