Setback

Setbacks,

Like little boulders,

They are sprinkled 

On our path

We encounter them

Every month, week, and day

Every hour, every minute

Sometimes, they’re little pebbles

Clean and harmless

We pick them up and toss them aside 

Into our mind’s ocean

Sometimes, they’re towering boulders

No matter where we walk

We walk into them

We sit on them 

Until they grow moss and mold

Until it seems like the only way out 

Is from under them

We know we’d get crushed

But we don’t care

We still make it out

To us, the boulders are 

Not boulders, but mountains

Daring us with their tongues out

To climb

When we do

We continue on our path

The only unanswered question is:

Where does the path lead?

Could setbacks be the saviors 

From what lies at the end?

When we step back,

Is it really backward, or 

Is it stepping forward on another path?

Those are the questions 

That will never be resolved, but for now

They don’t matter

For now, we must continue on our path

Meeting setbacks as old friends

That we always planned to see