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To Take Oneself in One's Hands

Our (optional) prompt for the day asks you to engage with different languages and cultures through the lens of proverbs and idiomatic phrases. Many different cultures have proverbs or phrases that have largely the same meaning, but are expressed in different ways. For example, in English we say “his bark is worse than his bite,” but the same idea in Spanish would be stated as “the lion isn’t as fierce as his painting.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture, and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem. Here’s are a few lists to help get you started: One, two, three.

"To take oneself in one's hands"
as I sign-up to take my stand,
I will accept the challenge, I'll run,
no, I'll walk, myself as one-
COVID-19 won't make May bland!

3.1 miles, 5k, from water to land,
I'll cross over the bridge, from sand
to pavement, under clouds or sun-
"to take oneself in one's hands"

ignoring all the negative comments backhand,
I've walked this before the trail was banned-
instead of Manayunk, King of Prussia fun,
instead of bikers, I'll see moms and their sons,
I'll finish, and it'll be a great experience firsthand-
"to take oneself in one's hands."