Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Uplift to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
Discipline is not a chain, though it may feel like one at first,
It is a trellis for the vine, and it helps the flower burst.
I set my alarm for early, and I lace my running shoes,
And I choose the path of practice when the couch begins to woo.
It is not that I feel eager, or that every day is bright,
It is that I keep my promise to the dream that I hold tight.
The river cuts the canyon, not by force but by its flow,
And the drops that come each day will carve a path for you to go.
So do the thing you planned to, even when you do not feel,
For the habit of the daily is the strength that makes things real.
And someday you will thank yourself for every early hour,
For discipline's a garden, and its fruit is freedom's flower.
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Commentary
Discipline sounds strict, but this poem calls it a trellis. The frame that seems to limit the vine is really what lets it climb toward the light.
“Discipline is not a chain, though it may feel like one at first,” but “a trellis for the vine.” The speaker sets “my alarm for early” and laces “my running shoes,” choosing “the path of practice when the couch begins to woo.” It is not eagerness but a promise “to the dream that I hold tight.”
“The river cuts the canyon, not by force but by its flow.” The poem urges, “do the thing you planned to, even when you do not feel,” for “the habit of the daily is the strength that makes things real.” It ends: “discipline’s a garden, and its fruit is freedom’s flower.”