Achievement is a trickster word.
It’s followed me through my life.
Though I might want to be rid of it,
it would take a special knife
to carve away its sticky prongs,
its seemingly gentle touch.
It’s sharp itself, it cuts both ways
though I want it gone so much.

I wonder if there’s another word
that could take its hard-edged place.
A word that makes compassion lead
and has no fear of disgrace.
It’s from the heart it needs to lead
and creative it will be.
No prison here to curb my thoughts
but ideas that set me free.

I’ll find that other word, you know
somewhere inside my soul.
A word that helps me see a way
that isn’t just a goal.
Perhaps it comes from down below
perhaps from up above.
I think I’m getting more to know
that word is close to love.