It takes more than years

When I was 18 I thought that I was a man,
And yet now at 26 I know that I was not.
Today at 26 I hope that I am a man.
Will I, at 34, look back at the span of 8 years,
Flowering with such an increase in awareness?

There are many people older than me who laugh
At the wonder with which I can ask such questions.
But there are many people younger than me,
Who's innocent outlook I envy.

In 8 years I have known more joy, more pain,
More laughter, more love, more friendship,
More worry, more hope, more despair,
More delight, more anger, more hate,
Than I ever thought to experience.

Would I learn them all again, these lessons of life?
My head says no... But my heart cries yes.
Because although, were I to live them all at once,
My heart would surely burst with emotion,
Each and every one of them made me more.
More the man I hope to be.