You Still Have A Long Way To Go - A Poem About Fears

Fears are something that we inevitably and constantly face throughout our lives. Some are much simpler, such as the fear of vegetables that children face; while some are more complex, such as the fear of what will happen to the people we love once we're gone. In this poem, I delve into the more psychological and long-term fears that develop and progress throughout our lives.

If you'd like to listen to my reading of the poem, the video is right here:

Feel free to follow along with the closed captions in the video or have a read of the poem itself below, to catch more visual cues.

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You Still Have A Long Way To Go

Before a certain age,

Your fears are somewhat illusory.

The iron bars that restrict you,

Are things you get over usually.

One conquers their veggies,

If they are (easily) bribed,

One gets over cooties,

Once they start wishing for a bride.

One triumphs the dark,

Once they find a light switch,

One replaces the boogeyman,

Once they learn about the rich.

All of these fears,

Simple but true,

Start to intensify,

Once your digits pass two.

--

For teenagers, of course,

Self-image is important,

Call it shallow if you must,

But everyone passes judgement.

In those times of self-consciousness,

Who else do we seek?

But our closest, bestest friends;

Ones that don’t betray are antiques.

Examinations, yet another,

Are one of our biggest threats.

Many of which, awake us at night,

In a cold, cold sweat.

Perhaps the scariest question,

That leaves us all vexed,

Would be as simple as this:

What comes next?

--

The unknown world is a fear,

You carry over to your twenties.

This whole time you’ve been a student,

When do you start to save your pennies?

Then peer pressure comes along,

To smack you across the face,

With questions like ‘are you employed?’

Or ‘do you have a date?’

The search for romance or a partner?

You don’t even have time to find yourself!

With your new job and workload,

Your self-help books collect dust on the shelf.

Another instability would be

The money that you own.

You start to question whether you really

Need to get that new drink or new phone.

--

And it doesn’t stop there,

As money gets spent overtime.

Retirement, pension, mortgage;

Juggle them while you try out the social climb.

It’s about the middle of your life,

Where you ponder your regrets.

Have you done enough on this earth?

Is there a dream you’ve yet to forget?

Oh, but it’s too late now

To change your decisions:

Was it your dream or society’s

For you to have this occupation?

Then, of course, another fear,

Loneliness.

Do you have a family or friends? Or just -

Emptiness?

--

As the years carry on,

And you can no longer stand,

Do you have someone by you?

Someone holding your hand?

The pills that you pop,

And the herbs you inhale;

Do they all really work?

You’ve never felt so frail.

And then the finale,

The sweep of the scythe.

Your friends are now sleeping,

It’s about time you close your eyes.

Isn’t it strange?

You thought the world would stop there.

But it still carries on,

Above your grave, elsewhere.

--

But alas, these fears

That we question before we sleep,

Are what keeps us motivated

To deviate from the flock of sheep.

If we hadn’t bore

Such a sense of urgency,

We would not have progressed

At all as humanity.

The leaps we dare take,

And the thrills we pursue,

Are all part of the things

That makes you, you!

So what if you encounter

An existential thought?

Just know there are others

That lived, and they fought.

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Thank you for reading!