The road behind is marked by loss and gain,
Relentless is time\'s speed to here and now.
A purple Ling once brightened my terrain,
Then vanished like a kiss upon the brow.
A father’s voice would fail to mark the way,
But others rose with light to form my will.
A gift of love, from up above, touché,
In shouts of pain, His grace was louder still.
My progeny I\'ll meet at heaven\'s gate.
Through friendships deep, and work that shaped my soul,
He stitched my piecemeal life into a whole,
And met me in the shadow of my fate.
Seek truth and goodness, beauty too — make haste.
What\'s left is far too precious now to waste.
-JD Boye