Coming One Way - Going Another

It was a late, chilly, October afternoon,

when the cry from my lips were first heard.

I entered the world without provocation,

without knowledge, without future thoughts.

There was no manual that came along with my birth,

telling me what should be expected,

as well as surprises, or, mistakes.

Those were all things learned from growing.

Lessons learned.

Growing up, being or trying to be,

the progidal son never really struck a chord,

always a day late and a dollar short,

and any failings meant subjegation;

meaning an onslaught of pain was forthcoming.

Price paid for coming into this world,

to be half-loved, half-despised.

All that which was is no longer,

the lessons learned became invaluable.

Learning respect, responsibility, love and even pain;

it is all in the invisible handbook called: Life.

We fall in love, marry, have children, do the best we can.

We work, we play, we rest, we pray.

We hope tomorrow will be better than the days gone by.

Now, years creep in, reminding me in subtle ways,

the years of my youth; a flashing, glancing memory,

can never be replicated or duplicated, only remembered.

It is the now of it that surrounds me.

That one day, I will leave as I entered,

with a last cry of life,

and still no manual to tell me what awaits me.