CCIII

Away with me, for I misunderstood

the expectations of my adulthood.

And I am not alone in this missed-take:

there are so many lives like mine at stake.

Away with all who think the world is harsh,

and that they need be thorny in the marsh.

Away with all who haven’t seen in years

the tenderness of loving eyes, or tears.

Away with we, the ones who trusted tales

of valor and of God’s wind in our sails.

Away with those of us who used our all

when we were little boys and girls, still small.

Away with us--away with what we are,

away, because we’ve never gotten far.