Best Hardship Poems
Good Sense Of Humour Blunts The Sharp Blades Of Reality Poetry
Contest //Sponsored by: Natasha L. Scragg
Contest Judged: 8/30/2025 4:27:00 AM
( 2nd Place )
Written: August 5, 2025
When life threw me a curveball,
I stumbled—then chuckled mid-fall.
Lumped knees, not pride, I wore like bent,
because sneering is something I've seen.
In chemo rooms and vestibules,
I frenzied dry jokes on aseptic walls.
Doctors simpered, nurses would beam—
a punch-line where the fear had been.
When agony thumped hard and sleep grew thin,
I let the silly light writhe in.
A meme, a whirl , a silly song—
made aching days feel less so long.
No, humour incurable or patch,
But it's the ally, not made to part.
It doesn't silence, hurt or truth,
but let me smirk with my aching tooth.
So here's my laugh, though life gushes beneath,
it's how I rise, not how I lament!
Be faithful through hardship
Bite the bullet and get a grip
Be faithful through hardship
Be fearless in times of trouble
Be not doubtful and be hopeful
Have happiness, you mournful soul
We may go through tribulations
That get us frustrated and hurt
But, know that you are stronger
Than you realize – hold on a little longer
God is the God of redemption
God is not the God of corruption
God gives me emotional ascension
Not to mention a lack of descension
Be joyous and cheerful
During rough hardships as a whole
God's spirit is bountiful
It renews our lovely, radiant soul
Deliver your spirit from all sorts of harm
God is there always to keep you so warm
We all go through terribly horrid circumstances
Enhance encouragement in your remembrances
Wondrous sensations are felt wholeheartedly
Be faithful through hardship…unconditionally
In the winter morning
Diamond fogs play on spiky grasses.
The rising sun is my friend then.
Not pigeons but crows flying on this town
In winter, the feathers are crystal black.
Then cawing is my morning song.
Town streets of dawn are not alone.
Female garments workers are busy.
Like the butterflies after blooming fresh flowers
My country is my pride for the hard workers.
This world is my heaven for welfare inventions.
The winter helps me to see the rising sun of life.
-20.12.2020 Chattogram
No matter our struggles, our toils;
One day the wind will carry our dust
carelessly across windblown fields.
Why worry, why put so much meaning
Into things that do not matter.
Really, what are we masters at,
Certainly, it is not living.
The reason for all this, don't you worry.
In our own silent dispair we search for reason,
maybe it is in dying, letting go.
Steel bars whisper cold truths at night,
A jungle of killers, no room for fright.
Survival ain't luck, it's blood and bone,
Earn your name or die unknown.
Respect ain't given, it's taken in war,
A blade in the dark, a fist to the jaw.
Weakness is death, don’t flinch, don’t fold,
Only the ruthless make it old.
No second chances, no rewind, no grace,
One wrong move, they’ll rearrange your face.
Ain’t no nine lives, just one shot to last,
Make it count or fade fast.
The yard’s a battlefield, the rules are clear,
Stand your ground, show no fear.
If it goes down, handle your biz,
Ain’t no mercy where killers live.
Every step’s a test, every glance a threat,
A life of war, no time for regret.
You bang with the hardest, you earn your place,
Or get erased without a trace.
Chains don’t break, they only weigh,
A lifetime lost, but dues to pay.
You either rise or rot away,
In the penitentiary, where demons play.
ugly
ducklings
their
nicknames
through
highschool
surviving
to
become
swans
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
Speaking quite frankly, I must say,
The burden of time grows heavier each day.
Reason stares cruelly, but I can only view blankly.
Growing angrier, shortsighted, and cranky.
In the past three hundred and sixty-five days,
Each moment seems to bestow the weight that stays.
Tasks pile up, deadlines loom,
Tick-tock of the clock as impending doom.
Days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months,
And before I realize it, another year confronts.
I cannot escape it, no matter how I try.
The burden of time only multiplies.
My youth is long gone, never to return.
Anile age creeps in, and I start to yearn.
For the days when time seemed to fly by,
When life was simple, I didn't need to try.
But now, with each passing moment, I feel the strain.
The weight of my responsibilities drives me insane.
life, you’ve dealt me blows
left and right
some underhand and outright dirty
come on - don’t pretend it isn’t so
while it’s true
what doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger
it never seems so
at the time
but through the years
the many nagging losses
sure do prepare you
for the big ones
whipped into submission
convinced that’s all there is
yes maybe so –
but you can’t take away
from me
my memories
of glory days
between the losses
AP: 1st place 2021
Through the hardships so many endure,
Is there anything I could say that would help you here
Nothing I do and nothing I say,
Could make that pain simply go away.
I can tell you that I know how you feel,
But we all know that sometimes that's not real.
Each of us have something important to say.
That is why we are here and write this way.
Please join me in saying one simple thing.
Someone somewhere can share in your pain.
Bless you all from the core of my being.
I just wanted to share the one simple feeling.
-Not for any contest, just a thought.
.
The Gods in the skies of the stars do
dwell and live.
They see our sad tears and
heartbreaks sown on cliffs.
Who truly does know their severe
regiment
Which makes this small race into
true supermen?
Hardships are blessings that excel
mankind.
Forged were not swords without the
forges' fire.
No boat was built without mighty
trees cut down.
No child was born without labour to
new life.
Won were not wars without our
soldiers shot down.
Why curse the Gods for their
greatest endowment
To mankind , his godhood through
the gates of hell?
"To make pearls out of grit
is to make sorrow and hardship a thing of beauty"
Nothing in my life has ever been anything like this.
When I started my company it was nothing but bliss.
I invented a company called “The Edit Centre”
Back in ’86, I was quite the inventor.
The business model was to transfer movie film and edit videos
So family memories would last forever, don’t you know.
From the day business opened we on a roll
People came from far and wide, it soothed my soul.
From $30,000 we grossed the very first year,
To 60 then 90, I had no fear.
I bought $1000’s and $1000’s of video toys,
The public loved it, so they could enjoy.
The growth in the business lasted about 13 years.
We peaked at $427,000.00, I still had no fear.
Slowly but slowly, things began to erode.
I knew not what the future would bode.
So I did what many major companies have done
I fired employees, sent them on the run.
I ended up doing more of the work on my own
And in 2006 I made more money than I’d ever known.
My accountant was pleased, said I finally learned how to make money.
Even though I was grossing far less, I was making a tonny.
The bank told me my house had great value, have this wad of cash.
So I began to remodel, was having a blast.
So I borrowed a quarter million to fix up the place
Created a palace, the times seemed to be great.
I was paying $3000.00 a month on the equity line.
Felt what I was doing was not out of line.
Then came 2007, well before the economy collapsed.
Sales dropped $75,000, what kind of relapse?
What was I doing that was so wrong?
I began living in a world I didn’t belong.
Technology was beginning to alter my life.
The market I owned was cut like a knife.
Fewer and fewer needed the services I provided.
Since 2008, I’ve been highly misguided.
But I was stubborn, said this couldn’t continue.
Took all of my savings to save the only thing I knew.
Owned a beautiful building on a main thoroughfare.
Spent every dime to save it, I didn’t care.
But business continued to get worse and worse
I vowed to survive, could I be cursed?
I remodeled the building and opened an art gallery
Thinking with no inventory costs, I might make a salary.
Of course my gallery couldn’t have been more mistimed.
Who in 2009 had the reason to spend another dime.
The upside was that the building had a facelift.
And I was able to sell it, that was a gift.
So after the sale I had a bunch of cash
But I was too honest to bury that stash.
I settled my debts with all my credit cards.
And figured I’ll start over, it couldn’t be that hard.
I didn’t realize how truly bad the economy is.
And after 200 job applications, I say, “What gives?”
I’m 60 years old without a dime to my name.
Whose fault is that, am I the one to blame?
I get a few video jobs to pay the utilities?
What kind of life is this, someone tell me please?
I wake up each morning asking God to take me away.
I don’t want to be a burden on anyone, no way, no way.
So what am I doing to make life better, to pay my bills and whatever?
It’s not like I lie in bed and have no new endeavors.
I’m trying to sell web videos for businesses need them, don’t you know?
And am trying to build websites that bring in the dough.
I’m also trying to market video legacies
Where people tell the story of their life before they’re deceased.
I know there’s lot’s of money out there.
I’m hoping to capture part of that market, if I dare.
I also have a model where I do videos for businesses
To market their services online in this new world of synthesis.
I have a sales rep only on commission
With the hope she’ll help me reposition.
I’ve also booked time on a local radio
Where for $125.00 an hour I can have my own show.
I don’t know if there’s an audience,
Stay tuned as they say, if I’m lucky, I will commence.
So you want to know when I’ll pay the mortgage?
I don’t deny that I have the courage.
Give me until the end of December
To solve this problem, so we won’t have to remember.
A lower interest rate would be good and then some
But I need lot’s more money, a new source of income
Everything else is not really a solution.
Just pay your bills, there’s no other conclusion.
So that’s my story, that’s why I am broke.
I’ve tons of ideas with no money to stoke.
With God’s willing someone will want this sixty year old
If that person exists, I’ll make their life gold.
It takes courage to believe,
we can move the mountains.
Until our time ends,
we still live facing hardship to ease.
Kota Kinabalu
The death winter came and was cold
With white on the purple mountain
The Tiwahe’, the Standing Rock People
Begged for warm fires from Iktinie the Sun Spirit
Our mouths were hungry and bodies were weak
Iya’ the Snow Monster had taken us farther to the south
To follow Capa the Beaver Spirit
A long journey into early winter’s night
For there was much labor to keep warm in our Thipi’
Our mouths were hungry and bodies were weak
When Iwoblu the Winter Storm whispered his cold story
To the Aicita, the Ghost Messenger
She tricked Mathohota the Grizzly Spirit with her wailing
To haunt the sky with growling winds
The Wahupakoza escaped on icy feathers
Stirring the winds with their flight of fears
And within the SunOthi’ earth dens, the wolves
Sungmanitu’ howled with their starvation
The stone figured buffalo,Wankan Tanka’s blood was cursed
With ice and their coats were bitten with Heyumka
Mothers were caged in the hard frost, while their calves fell and died
Our mouths were hungry and bodies were weak
Gleska Wowayazan, the spotted sickness, harvested our souls
We were prisoners of Wichat A’ the sickness that takes all
Our boldest warriors, Zuya Whichsa’ were taken from us
To follow the Wanagi’, the spirit of departed human beings
Far to the Milky Way to stand before Hihankara’ the judge of souls
We mourned and chanted for the loss of our children Wasigla’!
And the People of Standing Rock wept AcheyA’ in dreams
Of earth warmth and filled bellies of mothers and children
Our mouths were hungry and bodies were weak
It was the last winter of the ghost road
I am White Buffalo Calf Woman,
I am the keeper of words and I tell you now so that you will know
Edited reposted
April 27, 2022
Theme: Life