Aspirants and Aspirins

He’s at the top

I’m just halfway there,

I’ll probably never make it

And that’s my fear.

He was halfway up

When I started out

But moving at his rate?

That’s not what I’m about.

The top is mine

It was promised to me,

I was born to lead

Any blind man can see.

For too long now

I have been led,

He’s in my position

I must be at the head.

I need to move now

And quicken up my rate

Or I won’t make it,

What a terrible fate!

Just middle management

Are you kidding me?

By the end of this year

The top is where I’ll be.

But so short a period

In which to achieve,

So many in between

That will likely impede.

Twenty years it took

To be where I am now

But in a year’s time

I’ll be at the top somehow.

It’s not about the salary

Well, not that alone

But I like the importance

Of being in that zone.

  

I like the accolades they get

And I see how they strut

And besides all that

I’ve been too long in this rut.

Middle management

 For these last five years!

It is time to move on

I must change gear.

Full speed ahead!

Get out of my way!

I am coming for the top

I don’t care who is there.

All of this aspiration

It’s giving me a headache,

I’d better take an aspirin

Or I might be “the late”.

A word to the wise

And to the foolish too,

At times there appears no difference

Between these two.

Better take your time

And pay your dues,

Focus on the next level

Even with the top in view.

There are enough headaches

Between this and the next,

An aspirin may not work

Especially when you’re vexed.

Your time will come

If you wait your turn,

Impatience is like a match

It can really burn.

Aspiration is all right

And it is very necessary too

But too many aspirins

And we could be burying you.

Stewart Russell © February 2019

I Asked for Patience

Running off at the mouth

Often losing my cool,

Regular thrown tantrums

Like an infant at school.

Consistently encumbered

With foot-in-mouth disease,

Afflicted and tormented

And experiencing no ease.

After all you know me

This is who I am,

If I do I die

And if I don’t I’m damned.

And it was so spontaneous

Just a little would fire me up,

Mash my corns at anytime

And bitterness was your cup.

But I asked for patience

And I got more of the same,

What I wanted to avoid

Came back again and again.

More people annoyed me

More aggravating situations

 Came from every angle,

I was nearing desperation.

Then I began to realize

This was what I asked for

Since asking for patience

Is getting what one abhors.

This was flooding therapy

An unorthodox solution

Of more of the same trials

To get me over my problem.

My problem of impatience

Was due to particular stimuli

And the solution for this my friend

Was an inordinate supply.

  

I thought it would be better

To remove the problem source

But God in His infinite wisdom

Allowed it in greater force.

But it appears to be working

Now I am being cured

Though sometimes it’s very tough

And I wish it were like before.

It was far easier then

My life was not as troublous

So if you ever ask for patience

Expect more trials on purpose.

Patience can only develop

Through the trials one must face,

Think twice before asking

Unless you really want that grace.

I have learnt my lesson well

That’s why I share it with you

Be content with your current trials,

They are easier to go through.

Stewart Russell © February 2019