Every Consideration

I consider the foreseeable future, ahead.
It's the same one that had me angry six weeks ago,
But I've since ceased to feel about it.

I consider a change of focus and direction,
But what do I gain by a delaying action.
It's not as though I'm drowning in time.

I consider what would happen if I quit --
Nothing good.  I can only move forward
If I want to get out alive
If I want to get out with my friends and my pride.

I consider the nature of those things.
Pride is an idea, a precise electrical signal.
My method of maintaining it is not direct at all.
My friends are living, breathing beings,
With a different precise electrical signal,
At least as far as I will ever know.
They are sturdy in themselves, but to me
Just as easily lost as my pride.

This brings me to a consideration of my life,
Which I have been strong enough to keep
Against the world's sometimes-strenuous objections.
I've learned that I'm strong enough to take it away.

I've thought about that for a good long while.
Perhaps death is just another adventure,
and though I see less and less in the one right here
I won't quit the game until I win it.