A leaf floating
on the water
has no effect
on its future.
It drifts passively
on the pond,
In an hour,
a day,
or a week,
it may land on the shore across the pond,
or remain floating on the water,
or even sink to the bottom forevermore,
Without ever knowing why.  

Are you drifting in your own small pond?
Floating oblivious,
Unsure, uncertain, unmade?
Going wherever the waters take you?
Watching the world pass and fade?
Or sinking and drowning?

Or have you set the sail in your boat
And know the direction
you’re headed,
Your purpose, your vision, your mission,
Sitting back and enjoying the flow,
The tumultuous journey with its ups and downs,
As you watch the world unfold within and around you.  
From calm sweet waters,
To crashing and crushing high rise waves.
It’s all about the journey,
The lessons and the pain,
The joy and the excitement,
The highs and the lows,
That will take you to your destination,
The lessons and the pain.
And better than whence you came

Say every year is a step away
From who you once were
And is a step closer
To who you will be

Ten years is ten steps
Ten steps and ten lessons
Ten lessons that shape
Who you will become

In ten years you will be
Ten steps away from now
And ten steps
Closer to then

Say ten years ago you liked fiction
And now, ten years later,
You only read memoirs

Say ten years ago you were angry
An now, ten years later,
You can’t remember why

Say ten years ago your hair was brown
And now, ten years later
Your hair is blonde

Say ten years from now you live
In a big city with loud noises
But now, ten years before,
You live at home and are uncertain

Say ten years ago you
Would never do that
And now, ten years later,
It is all you ever do

Ten years full of growth
Ten years full of lessons
Ten years full of discovering
You and what makes you whole

Say ten years ago you felt alone
And now, ten years later,
You have comfort
In solitude

Mistakes were made, but I’m alright
I tell myself that to get through the night
One drink
Two drinks
Three drinks
Four
I down myself in alcohol to not feel like a wh*

Life is full of lessons
And so it seems
The only one that keeps learning is me
Because nothing is going right
These storms keep coming
I’m tired of fighting

Love is game and sometimes a battlefield
I’m always in the trenches, losing
Someone level the playing field

maybe people are destined to meet
because they need lessons from each other to keep
not realizing the memories from that person
can **** you inside together with your passion

She taught me
To be a spark of color
In a world of black and white

She taught me
To express myself
And quit hiding who I am

She taught me
Of my worth
Both inside and out

She taught me
These lessons to carry
After she'd passed

She taught me
The lessons that would
Some day save my life