Reflections

Reflections
By
Richard Vance


Looking back to a time, it was not long ago,
the future seemed certain, all things I would know.
It always seemed clear what paths I should walk,
I’d grab hold of the rings when opportunity would knock.

It seemed easy at first, with love all around,
encouragement, discoveries, and all that’s new would abound.
But slowly I learned it was not all it seemed,
some untruthful, some selfish, some spiteful, some mean.

You can’t be like him, “Are you out of your mind?”
His family has money and power, you’ll find.
So you’ll just have to be happy with what you can get,
your hopes, dreams, and wishes, those soon you’ll forget.

Walking in step with our ancestors before,
is it always the same or can there be something more?
It’s been discouraging to hear all this negative talk,
like birds of a feather, they say we will flock.

I should have risked all the things that came into my mind,
but I just sat back and waited for those I could find.
I was so often afraid, I didn’t move through the abyss,
Then I sat back and just pondered, “Ok, what did I miss”?

So uncertain I was, a wrong turn I would make,
I always seemed to get stuck, not a step I did take.
The consequences of action, now they don’t seem that bad,
looking back I can see all that I may have had.

The time has flown by and the youth that I knew,
is now dust in the wind, by me the years they just flew.
For a chance to do over, I’d give most anything
a second time I'd surely make it from pauper to king.