Stories by Nathan Sample on Medium

You Don’t Scare Me!

Nathan Sample — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 11:27:43 GMT

So this poem is based on a real interaction I had this Wednesday while I was on a walk in my own neighborhood. I turned the corner from where I live and there was a man standing next to his van yelling out at me. I took my headphones off and he pointed to the house next to him and said “he’s ready for you” which is quite ominous sounding. I turned and began walking away, the man jumped in his van and literally rode up right next to me yelling at me and asking me if he “needs to pull over” after I told him 4 times “I don’t know who you are and I don’t know what’s going on” the man eventually gave me a dirty angry look and sped off. This poem is about how you can’t let crazy people scare you away from doing something that’s important to you. I go on a walk every single day and it’s good exercise for me. I refuse to be scared away from walking in my own neighborhood.

Every day I walk down this road
Every day I carry this heavy load
Every day I go on for hours
Every day I work and never stop and smell the flowers

“I’m ready for you!” says the man in the car
“I turn to run in fear knowing he’s far!”

“I know one of you did it!” says the man in his car
“I know it was you and you ain’t getting far!”
He drives up to me so close I can see the crazed look in his eyes.
I think to myself “Am I going to die?”

“Boy you want me to pull over!” He says as I stand
Gasping in fear with my phone in my hand.

“I don’t know who you are!” I say in low quiet voice
I don’t know what to say and I haven’t a choice.

“Please leave me alone. I’m scared half to death. I’m tired, I’m weary and all out of breath!”

The man looks at me with rage in his eyes
He puts his car into drive and leaves with his lies.

For a whole day I sit and I think “What can I do?”
I pray and I hope and plead with my God until he comes to me and says
“Nathan he never hurt you
Now you say it out loud!”
You can’t live in fear and your pastor is proud!

What you need to do is be smart and be wise
Nobody attacked you because of your size
Don’t fear walking in your own neighborhood and don’t let the devil make you forget God is good!

“I’m not scared of you!” I proclaim the next day
I go on my walk, and oh by the way
Nobody came looking, and nobody found me.
I’ve got God’s great protection
and it always astounds me!

Truth Hurts

Nathan Sample — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 18:10:59 GMT

“Hey Nathan” they said “why don’t you keep those thoughts inside your own head?”

Well, they keep me awake when I’m trying to sleep and make me spend hours in bed counting black sheep

“Well… Nathan, truth hurts if you don’t mind me saying. So why don’t you shut up and stop playing! Truth hurts don’t you see and there’s no one in the world whose more honest than me!”

If truth hurts so much then why are you mad? Am I the only one not allowed to talk when I’m sad?

“You need to stop now! I’m just keeping the peace! Stop now and wait for this drama to cease”

It never goes away, it’s been done my whole life its brought many nights of great pain and many nights of great strife! I want it to stop and the only way I know how is by standing up now!

“You think you’re so strong and you think you’re so right but I’ll show you and you’ll lose this fight! It doesn’t take a sleuth to tell that you hate the truth and you’re going to hell!”

When you were mad at me you didn’t wait, you picked up your sword and tried to seal my fate!

“I was right when I lunged at you with my sword! I was far too angry to just be ignored!

Maybe your anger is not justified? Maybe you frustration is all damaged pride? What if everything I said is still true, what I’m just no longer mad at you?

What if the truths never hurt anyone except you?

Fear Not

Nathan Sample — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 07:48:32 GMT

This poem is about the many, many times in my life that I’ve been mistreated because I said something that was true and it bothered people.

I once was bullied and mistreated
I once was blind sighted by arguments that were heated
I once felt the hurt and the sting of rejection
I once suffered the wrath of others objections

I’ve spent a long time in the valley of doubt
I’ve been here so long I’m scared to get out
I’ve spent my whole life inside of this pain
It’s been 25 years and it all feels the same

As I lay in my bed going over these thoughts
I hear a voice in the silence and it tells me “fear not!”
“You see…” says the voice “they’re angry at you because the words that you’ve said all seem to be true.”

“They want you to lie and they want you to cheat
They want to lay their excuses down at your feet.”

“They can be mad at the truth but the truth doesn’t change.
They can treat you with anger and say that you’re strange.
But you can lay aside all of that doubt because what they don’t know is that the truth always comes out!”