TALENT AND INTENT

Talent and Intent
We wonder if we have talent.
But why is this so important?
When we barely know the limits of what we are capable of.
Like the guy who was a plumber, a building manager, a short order cook, a bartender
And wrote some of the most beautiful short stories in the English language.
Or the guy who woke up at 4 a.m. to write poetry that is taught in universities
Before going to work as an insurance salesman.
Or the poet laureate who worked on the assembly line at GM.
What do we know about what we can do?
Until we have come to know ourselves in sweat and blood.
Until we know what we want,
And what we are willing to do to achieve it,
We are in the dark.