Birth to Man

What happened to my childhood?

There was no gradual transition from my youth.

One day time took me to be a man,

As it does when it comes at the end,

Abruptly and hard, so it can not be remembered.

As a child I did not fear becoming a man.

Those ancient days of youth thought to last

Forever.

But time took me; he removed my child-like armor

Exposing my flesh to the changing winds

And dipping me in the freezing water;

A bite of knowledge from good and evil,

Awakening my closed eyes.

I feel naked now to the hot-cold world

And am struggling to stay sensitized to the brutality.

My mind also seems to have changed.

So much has never made sense and still

More, deeper questions haunt me.

I must fight the confusion of the mind.

It is not a battle to be won

For it ruins the pleasure belonging to everyday;

A cloud that masks the passion in life

Searching for unknown reason.

Knowing lives that chase this reason end in waste,

I answer with a youthful heart.

Everything is too much for a man to know.

We were given minds, but also hearts that feel.

We eat from the earth, breath its air, and drink of its blood.

This is life.  It needs love,

For it was given through love.

The beauty is tasteful and my

Heart's hunger for it must not be maimed

By the mystification that troubles my mind.

-Stephen G. T.