What are the uses of sorrow you say?
It just makes you sad, it can ruin your day.
It makes things seem gloomy, it makes you feel blue
As if your problems are many and your pleasures are few.
It can fill you with heartache and pain and despair
Till you feel not a soul in the world may care
It’s a realm of suffering and anguish and woe
Of feeling battered and fretful and low.
Until such is the level of disquiet and strain
That you wonder if you’ll ever feel better again…
But then one day, perhaps as if by surprise
You realise this trial of disproportionate size
Has begun to recede, to abate, to retreat
And you may just have accomplished an immeasurable feat.
That day after day of carrying on
Of hanging in there, staying afloat, pressing on
That unwittingly indeed and despite your worst fear
You have in fact learned to endure, persevere.
To face the problem, struggle through, quietly resist
Till you grapple the pain, countervail and persist.
And as things finally take an uphill turn
With a jolt of astonishment, you take stock and discern
That the problems in life, the bad news, the big blows
Actually strengthen us more than we know.
That however unpleasant, distressing and dire
They sharpen qualities really quite hard to acquire
Ones which mould us, enhance and amend
Which will enable us wisdom and comfort to lend.
And the result of our sorrow, that unwanted gift
Will be virtues which nourish, embolden, uplift
So, the next time we receive a box full of trials,
Let us reserve the tiniest of smiles
And remember the fact that this source of displeasure
May reveal yet another unperceived treasure.
