“On Reaching Eighteen Years”

Well, there you are, my friend,
A man in eyes of man –
But in the end
It’s man in eyes of self
Which mostly counts.

Yes – we do live here on earth
And feel of the sway
Of nearby trees, all swaying
To the pulse of common winds –

But even more, it seems to me,
There comes a time
When we must choose
To stand our ground,
Or wash away
For lack of deeper rootedness –
Which only comes
With choice,
And time,
And life.

Some artists see –
And paint in pictures new
Their forest sweeps
Across some mountain range;
And true that is –
And even beautiful,
To most of us, at least –

But then again,
What is the sign
And symbol mostly used
Of utter desolation
But a tree –
Alone – Perhaps it’s scraggly,
But alone –
The others?
Blown away
By forces outside them
Too strong to stand against,
Despite the cover
Once afforded by the rest –

They’re gone.
And why is that lone tree
Still there with others gone?

It’s in the roots;
And circumstance as well,
Of course –
Afforded by some cleft perhaps
Which eddied water, wind, or blast –
But that’s not all –
For other trees were
Also there,
And now they’re gone.

The reason?
It’s in the roots.
For roots seek out the moisture,
And the anchorage
Of rocks and soil
In crevices,
Far down beneath
The surface
Sight unseen.

In days ahead,
You’ll get to choose,
Far more than all
The choices made to date.

And that’s the fun of all this life –
It’s all the choices,
And re-choosing
When we blow it,
As we venture out,
And up,
And down,
And make whatever life
Seems best
For us to do.

So welcome to my world, my friend –
Not mine as one who owns it,
But a world that’s mine
As much as others here.

For in that truth,
Though others sometimes
Say, “It must not be” –
I find the freedom
To put down some root
Which,
Twisting here and there
Around such stubbornness,
Then finds itself
More deeply and
Securely
Rooted
’Gainst the
Storms
Which
Lie ahead –

And so I smile –
And in my way
I “walk back to
Some crosswalk,
Push the button”,
And
Entwine myself
More surely
Into life.

God bless you, friend Lucas,
McDee.

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