Reassuring Limericks about Challenges and Obstacles

Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, the life of a poet is not all glamour and glory. And for one who specializes in metaphysical limericks, the challenges can sometimes seem insurmountable.

But poets aren’t the only ones who encounter obstacles. Parents, carpenters and anesthesiologists run into their fair share of difficulties as well. But as Friedrich Nietzsche said in the Twilight of the Idols, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

So the next time you find yourself floating downstream in the wrong direction, try to bear the following morsels of wisdom in mind.

Roadblocks
When you stumble on boulders that nudge you astray
Don’t simply spurn them and roll them away
Although they deride you
They also can guide you
The detour itself may in fact be the way

Bend Down Low
From pressure and time the foundations are crumbling
Started out running but suddenly stumbling
No other way
But to bend down and pray
Though the act of submission is frightfully humbling

Judge Not
No matter how lowly a creature may sink
Into the swamp of corruption and stink
Don’t rush to take sides
For the line that divides
Is probably thinner than most of us think

An Empty Wound
Ten years passing, the loss of another
The father of two (myself and my brother)
I barely can register
The emotional expenditure
I honestly think I might never recover

The Prodigal Son
From out of the bosom of Fortune’s good graces
And into the dark and most desolate places
Where everyman fails
The hero prevails
And rises above every challenge he faces

Dwindle, Dwindle, Little Star
Some days it seems there’s no light in the lantern
Our vision is clouded by shadows of Saturn
Your dreams they grow cold
When you do what you’re told
So many submit to this archetypal pattern

Further Reading

Grateful Limericks for the Soul

Mental limericks about psychiatry

Nuanced Limericks about the Mind Body Problem