Ad Astra Per Aspera

If you look in my eyes and see a man without self confidence Know that I have lived a lifetime without common sense Because every time I have fallen I have gotten back to my feet Refusing to give in and refusing to accept defeat I told myself it was not my fate to live with the burden of body weight And that I could no longer live day to day shackled to self hate And though each day was so very hard I overcame what left me scarred Once again building strength that has given me something to guard For every mistake I made there may be a lesson to be learned And if made only once then perhaps there's faith to be earned When from a stumbling rookie was born a competent teacher Who grabbed the brass ring with skill and became a feature If you look in my eyes you will see a man who has learned a lot in life And every adversity no matter how big or small contributed to strife That has molded me into a better man than I was when I got back to my feet Just so I can proudly say, "ad astra per aspera. And I do not accept defeat."