How is it that boys learn to be men?

By keenly observing fathers,

Fishing with uncles, and hanging out in grandpa’s shadow

And the fathers of friends, and pastors and coaches

There are policemen and firefighters

And scout leaders and ball players bigger than life

A homerun or touchdown brings them to their feet

Those boys wear their jerseys with cocky pride

And don’t forget those super heroes,

Superman, The Green Hornet ,

And Spiderman too, but before them,

Roy Rogers, King Arthur and Tarzan as well

But alas, many fathers are absent

Or many just plan and simply unworthy

Leaving a boy with no sense of who he is

Or where in this world he has truly come from

And sooner or later the realization hits

Those superheroes, like Santa, are sadly not real

Ball players fall off of their pedestals

Pastors and coaches loose their dignity

So maybe that boy, in order to become a man

Hops a train, joins the army or hitchhikes across Europe

On a quest of their own, but the dragons they slay

Are those within the souls as the boy becomes a man