66. “My Best Years Lie Ahead”
Was it by chance I saw your face
A view I have not had in years?
A stranger-adult took the place,
Of the awkward boy who shared my fears.
How much we’ve changed since I saw you last,
Those high school days in our little town.
Yet if you only seek the past,
Forgive me if I seem to frown--
My best years lie ahead.
Most of our age are quite content
To reminisce and look behind,
They feel they’ve had their “life well spent”
Surrounded by their kin and kind.
Some quirk of fate, some sense of “more”
Leads me to push for unseen truths,
Elusive goals still held in store,
For the striving soul you knew in youth.
My best years lie ahead.
I bid you Godspeed on your way,
I wish you every happiness and joy.
I seek to find the words to say,
You meant so much when we were boys.
But who you knew is different now,
In ways too numerous to speak.
So I’ll remain “reserved” somehow,
To find that fate I must still seek.
My best years lie ahead.
(c) www.servingjesuspoetry.com
Unlimited non-commercial usage allowed.
Context
A few years ago, I chanced upon a former high school classmate from the Midwest, who urged me to attend a 40 year reunion. I declined, but sent him the following to thank him for his friendship and support when we were both asthmatic geeks struggling to survive high school. Even as we strive ahead, we owe a debt of service to past friends—although we may have grown apart.
Was it by chance I saw your face
A view I have not had in years?
A stranger-adult took the place,
Of the awkward boy who shared my fears.
How much we’ve changed since I saw you last,
Those high school days in our little town.
Yet if you only seek the past,
Forgive me if I seem to frown--
My best years lie ahead.
Most of our age are quite content
To reminisce and look behind,
They feel they’ve had their “life well spent”
Surrounded by their kin and kind.
Some quirk of fate, some sense of “more”
Leads me to push for unseen truths,
Elusive goals still held in store,
For the striving soul you knew in youth.
My best years lie ahead.
I bid you Godspeed on your way,
I wish you every happiness and joy.
I seek to find the words to say,
You meant so much when we were boys.
But who you knew is different now,
In ways too numerous to speak.
So I’ll remain “reserved” somehow,
To find that fate I must still seek.
My best years lie ahead.
(c) www.servingjesuspoetry.com
Unlimited non-commercial usage allowed.
Context
A few years ago, I chanced upon a former high school classmate from the Midwest, who urged me to attend a 40 year reunion. I declined, but sent him the following to thank him for his friendship and support when we were both asthmatic geeks struggling to survive high school. Even as we strive ahead, we owe a debt of service to past friends—although we may have grown apart.