I Have Lived

I've experienced the exuberance of youth. Through endless summer days, of blissful childhood ignorance. I have dreamt the most glorious dreams. The ability to soar with the eagles was mine, most any night. I was to live, forever. I have know the delirious intoxication, of boyish infatuation. And to such a degree, I have tasted the bitterness of rejection. I have lived amid nonconformists. I shared in their ideological beliefs. Old Guard be damned. I have witnessed the gatherings of idealists, who's main purpose was to spread their premise of the brotherhood of man. I have seen the chained and gagged. Beaten for their beliefs. Shot down in their youth, by those who's superficial dogmas kept them from the truth. I have been among the ranks of the tens of thousands, shouting my incensement's against a failing war. And I have been to the "wall" and wept for my fallen brothers. I have seen the rise of iconic performers. Some who would pay the ultimate price for their notoriety. I have felt the power of their karma and reveled in their idioms'. I have witnessed the miraculous wonder of birth. I've had the privilege to hold the embodiment of purity, God's ultimate creation, in the hollow of my arms. I have walked among the Angels. And I have delved into the pit of my own iniquity's. I have loved the un-loved, and scoffed at those who would be cherished. I have lived as if, there were no tomorrow. I have learned there is just today. I have lived to be a better man than I was. I live to be a better man than I am.