Pleasure and Pain

it’s so mysterious how pleasure compliments pain so well,
for without them both there would be no story to tell.

so please listen to the words that are here to follow,
so you can see how my life lessons were a contribution from my trials and sorrow.

if it wasn’t for the times i had to go without,
i wouldn’t have a testimony or a reason to shout.

if it wasn’t for those breakups ive endured,
My heart would still be virgin, but now its matured.

if it wasn’t for the moments i felt forsaken,
i wouldn’t appreciate my value , no awaken.

if it wasn’t for the nights ive cried myself to sleep,
the vision for my future would be forever bleak.

if it wasn’t for the lives lost, i deeply deplored,
i wouldn’t have the strength i have now that was missing before.

if it wasn’t for the Devil’s persuasion to try his means,
i wouldn’t know that if i dont stand for something, ill fall for anything.

if it wasn’t for the obstacles i have faced,
my appreciation for life itself would be debased.

if it wasn’t for the haters and the fakers,
to prove them wrong and smile in their faces wouldn’t be in my favor.

if it wasn’t for when i was mistreated and used,
it wouldn’t now be painless to say no or refuse.

if it wasn’t for when i disobeyed society rules, then forcibly encaged,
i wouldn’t have advanced my thoughts and revised my ways.

so to me pain and pleasure are so necessarily coupled,
one without the other would have our lives, feelings, and voices muffled.


©️ Courtney Hines