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My Greatest Enemy

My greatest enemy is myself.
This body that I drag around,
from day to day, is filled with

fears and aches; rarely can I
count on it to provide relief
or counsel concerning daily

onslaughts from this task of
living. Usually I retreat into
my mind, yet where this citadel

is somewhat more accommodating,
I find it too is filled with fears and
aches, and might be more of a 

trickster than the body. My last refuge
is my soul, who calmly explains
that the two afflictions of whom I

complain are, after all, what was intended,
and goes on to suggest if I really must
grouse, why not go away and write a poem.

Will and Ariel Durant (1885-1981 and 1898-1981) discussing early Cretan religion and the devotion to the mother goddess wrote in "The History of Civilization," that "The Cretan sees in her the basic fact of nature -- that man's greatest enemy, death, is overcome by woman's mysterious power, reproduction."

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