On Being 25

I've waited half my life it seems
each year, one by one.
I've had grand hopes for all I would be
and all I would have done.

It always seemed just old enough
to be taken seriously,
yet young enough to be involved
alive and feeling free.

Well, now I'm here and through my years
I've learned something of myself.
that no matter what roads I travel
what books I read from off the shelf.

I must do the choosing
I must set the pace
for in the dark hours of the night
it is myself that I must face.

12 July 1977