Through dust and dirt
Through sun and sleet
Through cutting cold
And humid heat
Through tall-necked grass
Humbled by their weight
Through wave-worn shores
Ground away by fate
Through mountain-tops
And cliffs below
Through plains of sand
And rivers’ flow
Through bygone ages
And worlds unseen
Through skies of blue
And fields of green
Through halls of glory
With friends all ‘round
Through wooden keys
And seas of sound
Through laughter, tears,
And confused looks
Through colors, pictures,
And endless books
Wandering boy wanders on
Each new day and each new dawn
Paves the dirt beneath his feet
Through burning sun and numbing sleet
Wandering boy searches and finds
Stories to sing and ties to bind
Makes so many of his own
A garden by his hand grown
Wandering boy is given a map
Simply shoved into his lap
Told to go wherever it leads
For there lies gold, heroic deeds
Wandering boy tries both ways
One that lives, and one that pays
Walks road by day, builds paths by night
Slowly, slowly, fades the light
Wandering boy trapped in this place
No stars shining in empty space
Marches forward, has to, must
Not a soul in whom to trust
Wandering boy steps all wrong
The road back is so very long
Took his eye off of the road
Now pay the price and bear the load
A crushing setback, utter defeat
Is there even time for retreat?
Yet strange as though it may seem
Wandering boy cries not, nor screams
For firm brick lanes and certain paths
Treacherous boulevards of studious wrath
Letters for numbers that spell no words
And sing no songs; all, unheard
For step by step, a charted course
Tales of work and field and force
Hot under pressure, volumes to say
Many more miles to go astray:
Never were they his way.
Most would despair and fear
With such riches squandered
And next steps so unclear
But now the boy might wander
Again across the endless skies
Find something new to ponder
And to cherish in his eyes
The boy might find the fire
That could not follow across brick
Now burning without tire
Reborn anew, a great Phoenix
The boy might find the sea
Crystallize into lenses of glass
Revealing wintry beauty
Filled and free of class
The boy might find the earth
Growing green again with life
Giving rise to a Guardian’s next birth
Free of the boy’s self-inflicted strife
And the boy might find the clouds
A fresh and heavenly flight
Far from the empty letters
Which have haunted his nights
A champion of choice
And critic of chance
Who sees consequence
With such romance
Now sees these thoughts
Serve as signpost in his tale
A fork in the road, once delayed
Now vengeful blight upon his trails
For none can walk both at once
The already-written and the yet-to-be
Just as none can walk land and sky
Nor be both structured and free
The wandering boy must choose
Once and for all the road ahead
Consign one to eternal oblivion
Sear the other into his head
Has this dream arrived too late?
Or has he still the strength to shine?
Is his soul the subject of fate?
Or can he choose to cross this line?
Through the wilds and wonders
O’er crumbling, bumbling foundations
Through the places none dare to go
Led on by pure imagination —
Wandering boy chooses to choose
The deal made and signed and sealed
From the very first word chosen today
For his soul one day, this day be healed.
