FEAR

 "Give me courage Lord to take risks not the usual ones 

respected

necessary

relatively safe

but those I could avoid

the go-for-broke ones.

I need courage

not just because

I may fall on my face or worse

but others seeing me

a sorry spectacle

if it should happen

will say

"he didn't know what he was doing"

or "he's foolhardy"

or "he's old enough to know

one leads from the side

instead of letting oneself be caught

in a wild stampede."

Give me courage Lord

to take unnecessary risks

to live at tension

instead of opting out.

Give me the guts to put up

instead of shutting up."

Joseph Bayly