ISN'T IT JUST MARVELOUS HOW FROM THE WHOLE COMPLICATED MESS OF LOOKING FOR, FINDING AND JUST BEING OURSELVES WE FIND OUR TRUE, SIMPLE...SELF. A FINE WORK, JOHN. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS

Something someone once said to me was that who we want to be is who we already are. As I want to be someone better than I am, this is a hopeful thought.

Rebecca

There is, however, an interesting dichotomy in the boy/man periods in that, as you posit here, "The child wants to be a man, The old man again a child. In never being exactly who we are. We become exactly who we are." The wisdom getting older offers is only achieved with a past (boyhood on) that is rich with experience, preferably where the results of multiple points of view prevail and leave us with questions that are revisited over and over... always finding answers that beget more questions. Such use of consciousness-in-living delivers a richness to being aged that is unparalleled in youth.

Your poem is very introspective of what we become in our different stages of life. But I think the hardest part of life is when we are striving in a career when we first have to learn a certain set of skills that places us in some role or profession where we have to either become an expert or fail in that role. For example, most poets may choose another role like bartending or washing dishes in order to survive while writing and performing their poetry.

As we rise in our profession, we are often asked to take on roles we dislike or do not possess enough skills to do well.

Ron