I Choose
Tony DeLorger © 2016
You ask me why I so vehemently hold,
onto ideals that this life cannot possibly uphold,
when souls in choice choose wrong,
for all the harsh reproach it yields, prolongs
the pain and woe of human ilk,
in sufferance of our sins and carelessness,
born, engrained in manifest,
forever to sustain,
the dim dark depths of darkness, within.
You ask me why I live in delusion’s embrace,
surrounded by love and beauty’s grace,
well, ’tis better than the torment of a world gone mad,
death embraced and life without value, so sad,
and beauty the deliverance of possibilities in hope,
what I hold in profound scope,
to endure the insanity that surrounds this heart,
this soul adrift from reality’s scorn,
to maintain breath in the wilderness.
You ask me why I cannot love, for you,
yet what I love is far removed from what you seek,
and alone is not travesty,
it is a serene silent affirmation of place, and to embrace the dawn,
for I choose to remain open, to see beyond the pain
and hold my ideals like precious blooms,
always awaiting light to unfurl and flourish,
to attest the love that in choice can transform
this hatred world now assumed.
- Brutal Night - March 30, 2021
- Like a Breeze Recalls - March 27, 2021
- Torrents - September 5, 2020







“. . . ’tis better than the torment of a world gone mad . . .” certainly describes the present world situation. Hope is ever present when we look to the right source.
Oh! Tony, your last stanza fills me with the sense of a powerful love “beyond pain” and to see the value of holding on to one’s ideals. Strongly, yet beautifully penned. I love it, for your artistic skills, yet also for my own way of holding on to my ideals and the reasons I love. Your poetry often helps me to turn within and understand myself. Beautiful. You are a master of the written word and invoking feelings.