Do not go gentle.....

I have always been partial to Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night" ever since I read it many years ago.Though this villanelle is about not giving into death without a fight, over the years I have drawn inspiration from its opening lines in another context -that of living.

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

To me these words have been about living life, to live it as well as you can, to strive with every single fibre of your being, to experience each day in full.

Which is why settling for second best or less than perfect should not be an option. Many of us do, for fear of missing out altogether but I wonder... isn't it better to live in hope than to settle for less than right?

It is a dilemma of gargantuan proportions I concede. But consider the other side of the coin, consider having compromised for whatever reason, only to find what you were looking for when its too late?

I am raging, raging that I have only one life, raging that half of it is gone, raging that I will never have it again, that in the time left to me, there is so much more to do and that its not enough. I rage because I am bound by principles and my own code that prevents me from reaching out for all that life has to offer and that the twilight and darkness grows ever closer.

My words are not original nor are my thoughts for I am sure that many have done as I have before me and many will after me too. But I will rage....