This world has grown too soft for me.
I want a bed of nails to rest my pillow skin—
A bathful of sharded glass to sink in—
To greet the cold, jagged earth ‘neath my bare feet.

Nothing more I desire than a fiery trial—
A branding iron, seared coal,
White-hot on my soul,
To ensure I endure any terrible mile.

Assisting to Sisyphus up a Tartarite hill
Is my ethos in life, odd as it may seem on
The surface—to know pain as a god, not a demon
Nor tormentor—but mentor of sorts, to callous my will.

For comfortable creatures, only shown in fair weather,
Away can be blown by but the weight of a feather.

© Joseph Chin
#thickskin #toughskin #endurance #nopainnogain #philosophy #sonnet