Focus is hazed as

wing-tip dreams come calling

softly, persistently

those starches seams

of material obsession

trite expressions that seem

to echo so endlessly

I've left it all behind this time

left it all behind in my mind

The alarm clock dawn

methodical  in it's wringing,

starving, stealing time

so stealthily that you hardly notice

until one day you wake up faded,

to a jaded, gaunt and hungry hue.

I've left it all behind this time

left it all behind in my mind

So this is how it feels to be free?

To be set adrift like some Coltrane riff

When need's an endless song

Can't tell you where I'll be tomorrow

I may be drawn back into the

Yawn of the alarm clock dawn

Balance is my only hope to end up

Somewhere in the middle......

Sometimes I can't deny

that every so often

I feel as though

my prime is passed

But these thoughts are fleeting,

merely a mistake not worth repeating

as I realize that there are always 

new goals in which to strive for,

so many more fears to slay

before I lay down to rest

life has brought me far

but I know deep within my soul

that in this journey there will soon

be a quickening that will take me

well beyond where I am today

the year past has forged

me strong and sharp,

like Damascus steel,

light playing off its edges

from the long dark night

my ego is shriveled like

a raisin in the sun

yet my soul has emerged unscathed

and ever more hungry

so here I stand before you....humbler,

a little more weathered, a bit wiser

and much more brazen,

with an unfathomable and deep

appreciation of the gift of life

and my time here with you.