For years and years
I've stood at a crossroads,
A T-intersection
With three paths going right and left,
And stretching out behind,
With a fence of my own making
Before me.
I've hemmed and hawed,
Afraid of deciding
Which direction to go
Because my heart
Did not know itself
Or what to make
Of the strange yearnings
And urgings
That rumbled deep in my soul.
The fear was great
And I paced within the tiny confines
Of the cross
Created by the convergence
Of the paths.
I could not retreat
To where I had come, so
Should I go right?
Should I go left?
One way was expected of me:
Mere jobs that paid the bills
And bored me to tears.
The other was a way of possibilities:
Possible fame. Questionable financial stability.
And a promise of creative satisfaction.
But neither seemed to offer
A feeling of having benefited the world
When all was said and done,
And that, my heart insisted, was Everything.
So I paced, and considered, and prayed,
Until one day I realized
By peering between the slats
That a fourth path existed
Beyond the fence of self-doubt I had built.
My heart leapt and trembled
As inspiration dawned
At the prospect that lay before me
Dare I? I asked myself, over and over.
It took tremendous courage
To climb the fence
And drop gingerly to the other side,
To peer around
And take in the enormity of what I had done.
The crossroads are at last behind me
And I face the great unknown;
My life will never be the same.
I am a child of God,
Born with talents and blessings
Meant to be shared;
Where this path leads
I do not know,
But I DO know
I will be the better for it.