Shared Strength

The small boy grows innocent and free He roams without need for property Life is an adventure with bags packed Only for that which fits in an old sack Battles waged and deserts explored Tropical jungles and nations implored Indian wars and robbers on the train Secret agents and sports highest fame The boy hasn't much, that is understood Only a day dream in a neighborhood The parents see the dirt and the grime Dirty face and fingernails all the time  What will come of the boy they say Certain to fall behind along the way For school brings no joy or amusement Just a cage with walls of confinement For some to learn is to physically do To touch, feel, try and fail until true No heed given to failure's insecurity To dream again of a new opportunity The world is hard on a dreaming soul To conform would be best he is oft told His dreams fade under obedience praises To keep up with Jones' and enter rat races Responsibility weighs heavy on a mind Through fights with self to avoid a

On the trail of life there are no u-turns It neither speeds up nor slows down It simply plods along in the mundane Until moments of joy and sorrow come And awaken it's true fleeting nature That life is certainly not everlasting   I look out from the mountain climbed And see another mountain yet to go Those down below, I think of them And find my own trials recounted "Don't give up" I silently whisper A rally cry as much to me as another I see those who come out of nowhere Seemingly starting where I am now In them, I see confusion and energy Robbed of pain and ensnared by glory Yet, I feel a familiar tinge of jealousy The vantage, the energy nie the pain Is to achieve without achievement all in vein or is it success all the same? In the distance those who passed by There steady plod faster than mine A mirage of my own imperfection A constant diet of what I still lack It is that criticism laid upon oneself It cuts the deepest and most perfectly I find myself gently into