Life Lessons

Who was that angry young hot-headed hooligan

Ranting and raving in rivulets of rage?

Awash with the angst of

Contrite consternation,

Keen to react and so quick to engage.

Hustling highways and bristling byways

To get it done my way and rush to the end.

Smashing resistance with strident insistence

Til left and bereft in pursuit of a friend.

 

Always in danger of onerous anger

Amidst all the clangorous chatter and noise,

Struggling with all my might

Just to avoid a fight,

Grappling to score without losing all poise.

 

But tough times and trials and tragic tears

Can soften a once stoic steel veneer

Til tall walls of frowns come tumbling down

To fancy as winglets for fantasy’s fears.

And though these life lessons so smartly serve

As treasures (much more that I deserve),

I would not, will not, cannot swerve

And allow old angers to reappear.