(For Daryl Auguste, my Grandson)
Dare you aspire to reach the eagle’s height,
And soar beyond the common, out of sight?
Reason and intuition say: “You can!”
Yet you must learn to bear the ills of man,
Lest all their minds’ diseases make you weak.
Govern your actions wisely as you seek
Under life’s unrelenting folds to find
Ideals to shape and energize your mind.
Let kindness guide you on life’s tangled trail!
Let truth abide inside you or you’ll fail!
All that enriches will not soothe your soul,
Unless greed and injustice leave you whole.
Mercy’s a garment you should always wear.
Endure the moments when it shows a tear,
Because that garment will not always fit….
Love is a rainbow that is always lit –
Only the heartless seek to dim its light!
Only the callous can’t judge wrong from right!
March, when you must, a pilgrim on the road,
Forlorn and weary … bent beneath a load
In search of answers to alleviate
Especial sorrows, born of luck or fate.
Life is a journey, neither safe nor sure.
Death is that journey’s end – you will endure!
Aspire to touch those things that lowly lie,
Unblemished, though not dazzling in a sky….
Grant that some heaven can be found on earth!
Undo all that you can that throttles mirth!
So many shortfalls plague man in a blight,
That you should use your being to make them right,
Ennobling you to reach the eagle’s height.
09/15/1993
