So many paths to tread It’s hard to know
which ways I should have chosen & which roads
would have been best for me & mine to roam.

So many schools & teachers I have seen.
So many chances given me & yet,
I chose & chose again to walk alone.
Defiant of the rules they would impose,
I walked, I tripped, I fell, but carried on

Perhaps if I’d succumbed to one of them,
I would now find myself in better stead.
More discipline & some authority
& maybe I would be a brighter star,
to shine for those who follow like I did.

I cannot tell if how I’ve lived was worse
or not, or more or less, than could have been,
but in my heart I know that I have tried