In this lifetime
You are born with a map
Directions
And decisions
In every situation
And fork in life’s road
A detailed guide
All the way to death.
As a child
You forget to read it
Running off and playing,
Carefree and full of laughter.
These decisions
Are for grownups
There is no time
For the important choices now.
As a teenager
The map becomes a crumpled pile
Tossed in the corner
Lost in dirty laundry
With disregarded items.
When I’m an adult
You say.
That’s when the map will be useful.
Twenties come and go
Trying to make it
In the real world
And you begin to wonder...
Where’d that map go?
I have big decisions now
Marriage,
Kids,
Occupations,
I have to be somebody.
Life suddenly gets real
And you search frantically for the lost map
In all the things you packed away.
Then in your thirties
Or maybe you forties
The map is found!
Dirty,
Torn up,
And for the first time
After all the choices already made
That led you here
You see the map
And try to read what it says,
Only then,
realizing you never paid attention
You never took the time
And thus never learned the language
It was written in
You can not read anything the map says.
And remain,
Just as lost as ever.
