By David Roth
© 17 October, 2003
He came into this world with a voice of defiance,
Amazed that anyone or anything would be so bold
To snatch him unawares and unconsulted
From the soothing warmth of the womb
That had been his home for so long,
And he let his displeasure be known.
But with that first auspicious proclamation
He began a life of wonder and mystery
Propelled at times by fate, and at others by choice
Through narrow and winding pathways of sensation
From the silly to the sublime
From the paltry to the prodigious
His beacon shone, determined to fight back the darkness
To not be denied.
And he experienced it all with every fiber of his being!
The good and bad, he welcomed
Extracting a toll from each and every scintillating experience
And felt the ebb and flow of life in his heart.
He knew the cost of love and the price of compassion.
He laughed with the very essence of who he was
At the playful, happy moments of life
And he cried, deep and bitter tears,
In sobs that racked his soul
When life seemed to turn its back on him.
He rejoiced in the success of a friend or loved one
And held them and wept with them in their failures.
And he knew the price each had paid
And his own
For the investment each had made in the other.
He stood speechless before an alter
Holding dear to the bride of his youth
And stood in uncharacteristic silence
When she presented him with those extensions of himself,
Those jubilant gifts of life
And wondered at the awe of it all,
And the unworthiness and unprepared ness he felt holding them.
And he fought the demons if despair when it all fell apart.
He lived, loved, laughed, and cried.
And in a place that no one ever sees
He retreated to consider
Not for the first time
Nor the last
The cycle of life that began that cold rainy morning so long ago
And how it had fashioned
The Rhythms of his heart.
