{"id":37259,"date":"2023-02-01T21:16:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T02:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/?p=37259"},"modified":"2023-02-01T21:16:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T02:16:20","slug":"follow-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/2023\/02\/poetry-in-motion\/follow-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you doing what you love to do?&nbsp; Is this trucking life something you stumbled into, or is it something you always knew you were born to do?&nbsp; Undoubtedly, if it is something you\u2019ve been passionate about, then you\u2019ve certainly run into the cynics in your life who have offered their unsolicited and ignorant advice from a distorted higher ground.&nbsp; This poem is for those of you who have been offered well-intentioned but ill-advised cynicism, from various people, as they attempt to dissuade you from your dream of hitting the road behind the wheel of a glorious big rig.&nbsp; There is certainly a rough road ahead in this profession.&nbsp; Maybe several rough roads.&nbsp; But should a rough road be enough to convince you to turn away from your dreams?&nbsp; Nah!&nbsp; Those of us who have the diesel fuel coursing through our veins simply expect the rough roads and meet the challenges with the ambition we were born with.&nbsp; The cynics will probably never really understand the appeal to chase this kind of dream.&nbsp; Well, so what?&nbsp; Their comments and critiques are like mile-markers&#8230; we just keep blowing past them and putting them behind us as we chase that dream we\u2019re after.<\/p><p><strong>TO THE CYNICS<br>By Trevor Hardwick<\/strong><\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"186\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1-300x186.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1-600x371.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1-1024x634.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1-768x475.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem1.jpg 1050w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><p>The first thing they say, I did wrong,<br>Was to fall in love with trucks.<br>They told me it would lead nowhere,<br>And the lifestyle sort of sucks.<\/p><p>But I paid no mind, and I gave my heart,<br>To the rhythm of the wheel.<br>I let that fuel roll through my veins,<br>And I sure love how it feels.<\/p><p>The next thing they say, I did wrong,<br>Was to chase those highway lines.<br>They said I\u2019d miss that family life,<br>And you can\u2019t get back those times.<\/p><p>And I could not hear, what they cautioned me,<br>But I heard that highway whine.<br>I hit that slab with my right foot down,<br>And I made a life that\u2019s mine.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2-287x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2-287x300.jpg 287w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2-600x627.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2-979x1024.jpg 979w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2-768x803.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/FebPoem2.jpg 1004w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><p>Another thing they say, I did wrong,<br>Was to purchase my own rig.<br>They\u2019d say I might as well buy a stone,<br>For the grave I\u2019m bound to dig.<\/p><p>But their words fell flat, as they left their lips,<br>And I laid my money down.<br>I signed that line for that dream of mine,<br>Now I\u2019m more than one way bound.<\/p><p>They said what I should, or I shouldn\u2019t do,<br>I guess they think they know best.<br>I just offer thanks and I fuel my tanks,<br>And I realize I\u2019ve been blessed.<\/p><p>Now that they see, that I\u2019m doing well,<br>They say I must\u2019ve caught some break.<br>I just plug my ears and I grab more gears,<br>And I\u2019ll keep doing what it takes!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you doing what you love to do?&nbsp; Is this trucking life something you stumbled into, or is it something you always knew you were born to do?&nbsp; Undoubtedly, if it is something you\u2019ve been passionate about, then you\u2019ve certainly run into the cynics in your life who have offered their unsolicited and ignorant advice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poetry-in-motion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37266,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37259\/revisions\/37266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}