“Shall I, Intrepid, Stand Alone?” by Stephanie Eagleson

What then? Shall I, intrepid, stand alone

And motionless, lest movement be the end

Of future dancing—so I lie here prone,

Entrapped that freer sprites might wand’rings wend?

Assurance of a whimsy safe to run,

At present, thanks be to a stroke of pain—

Should such a careless vic’try haply stun

To hapless sacrifice a victim vain?

‘Tis not a question for the great of mind,

Nor study for the scholars of the earth:

To seek an answer is, forsooth, to find

That self-wrought happiness slays others’ mirth.

Take joy from joy, bear grief to those who mourn,

Steal not from what each one has timely born.

Stephanie Gail Eagleson holds a B.A. in English, Music, and Classical Studies from Hanover College and has taught writing, poetry, grammar, and Latin for a number of years. She now homeschools her three young children, works part-time as a freelance editor, and serves her community as a certified Domestic Abuse Prevention & Recovery Advocate. Stephanie has been published in Beyond Words Literary Magazine and Persephone's Daughters, where her short story was nominated for Best of the Net, and she has a piece forthcoming at The Vashti Initiative. She blogs about retaining faith through trauma in a highly irregular manner at stephaniegaileagleson.com. Irrespective of all this, Jesus loves her.