When I was a young man, just finding my way,
I planned all my steps from day to day.
I tried to avoid uncertainties,
opting, instead, for what would be
safe and practical ways to proceed,
choices I knew would clearly lead
to outcomes that I could predict and control.
Avoiding unknowns was my foremost goal.
But as the months turned into years,
I began to see that failure and tears
are teachers as much as rewards or acclaim
and I vowed to change the rules of my game.
I will no longer hide from my fears,
I will embrace and hold them near,
not as a force that calls me on,
nor as the light that signals the dawn.
Tell me, what is life without the chances we take,
and who are we if we do not make
every effort to live beyond expectations and schemes,
to turn from our fears and live into our dreams?
Looking back over all the years that have passed,
I discover deep joy in saying, at last,
in the years that remain, be they many or few,
I shall live in a way that I once never knew.
More of my dreams and less of my fears,
wisdom attained over all these years.