“Son, you can be anything you want,” dad said.

I never heard this.
After all, a virus told my parents
I wasn’t going to live long enough
to be anything but a child.

Later, John Wayne, on the big screen, said,
I could be a hero.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, I came back from Vietnam with PTSD.

When I was a teacher man
for thirty years, students said,
“This is boring.
Why should I read?
Why should I do homework?
I’m going to be a famous baseball player;
a super model;
an astronaut;
win American Idol and cut a record;
be president of the United States.
Why go to school?
After all, look at Bill Gates.”