stone man valentine

i’ve never been challenged by anyone
--he’s a “self-made man” they say--
i don’t really know what the hell that means:
i just live it all day to day.

yeah, i’ve been through my own hell of stark demons,
crawled through my own desert of most extreme sear,
and have slain legions of enemies arisen
out of my own never child-discarded fears.

yet i haven’t ever quite had that one challenge
--never that special sense of true give and true play--
that will lead me to believe that tomorrow
will be any different at all from today.