Ups and Downs

 

 

Is your life up and down?

I know you will say it is not

But mine is like a roller coaster;

This seems to be my lot.

 

Especially as a Christian,

And I am not fooling you

But you are not likely to understand

Unless yours is like mine too.

 

I would like to live a life

Without these ups and downs

In which the ups are smiles

And the downs are frowns…

 

But I know that is not likely

At least, not in this life

In which we struggle for peace

In the midst of strife.

 

 

Life is about ups and downs

Invariably, more downs than ups,

Ever since Adam and Eve

All have drunk of this cup.

 

We get up in the morning

And we lie down in the night,

Sometimes our sleep is peaceful

At times we fight.

 

Yes! It is an up and down life

With which we contend

Wishing and hoping

For more ups in our blend.

 

Like the dust which was a down

Suddenly became an up

When one day out of our blue sky

We found ash in our cup.

 

 

The compliments of La Soufriere

Which decided to erupt

And now the dust isn’t so bad,

In fact, it’s an up.

 

We’d rather the dust bowl

Than this ash bowl anytime

For this La Soufriere ash

Can really get on your mind.

 

The dust you can dust off

But the ash quickly settles back,

Imagine the down for the people

Where water is in lack.

 

 

Wearing a mask was a down

But since the ashfall it’s an up,

Mask wearing was a stiff protocol

Until La Soufriere erupt.

 

COVID-19 in Twenty-Twenty!

We longed for ‘Twenty-one…

But along came the Soufriere ash

And COVID has not gone.

 

A double-whammy they say,

All of a sudden it is two downs,

How we yearn for some rain

Like a smile after a frown!

 

In the meanwhile, I struggle,

And perhaps, unlike you,

For a while you may have plateaued

Having the same old view.

 

The key to the ups and downs

Is in life’s consolations,

It’s when prior downs become ups

Relative to new situations.

 

Like the dust and the ash

Which would you rather?

For me, I could handle the dust

But this ash is a real bother.

 

 

Yes, the consolation is in the ups

That helps to fight the downs

Just like the sun that’s peeking out,

The smile replaces the frown.

 

Like the water vapour going up

That the rain might come down,

All these are the cycles of life

Like on a merry-go-round.

 

Stewart Russell © April 23, 2021