-on a person's 20th birthday

When I turned twenty I couldn't wait,
so sure was I to change the world.
Exactly right were all my thoughts
I couldn't ever stop to state.

So I turned fourty while I built and built
on top of my precisely stated schemes.
My loved ones warned me for collapse
but I would never stop, in it to the hilt.

When I turned sixty, felt a faint crack,
not in my infallible buildings
but in my overstressed back.

Now that I am eighty years of age
I know the way to perfection:
the missing line in your design
opens your cage for the future page.

Dear God,
Help me to be humble,
To serve You,
And humanity.

Everything sends its own message
Even if we cannot hear
Light and sound and information
Even if it seems unclear

Everything sends its own message
Even if it says nothing
Nothing is a message too
It says "I have nothing to say"

Everything sends its own message
I am no exception
If you think that I have said nothing
That's a misperception

Everything sends its own message
Writ in flesh and blood and fire
Even a lie is information
Tells the world "I am a liar"

Everything sends its own message
And of this you can be sure
Behind every single message
Is at least one messenger

Everything sends its own message
Waves that move from place to place
We are all part of the message
We are made of the same waves