I stand here on the edge of the world...

I stand here on the edge of the world,

yet in the distance,

I still see mountains, trees, and rivers.

They say the world ends here,

yet there it goes on before me,

as far as I can see.

Beyond this imagined line on which I stand,

the border of an empire,

the Iron Fist cannot reach me,

cannot knock me down,

cannot crush me beneath it's weight.

One step, and I forsake my sovereign.

One step, and I abandon the life I've lived for all my years in this world.

Beyond this line,

there are no laws but those of Mother Earth.

One step,

and I'm a traitor to the realm.

A free man.

They say the world ends here,

and they are not wrong:

It is where one world ends

and a new world begins,

a strange world, a savage world, a better world.

Have any before me crossed this imagined line on which I stand?

If there are people out there, are they my brothers or my foes?

They serve no master, swear no oaths, kneel to none.

Each man is a King.

And I shall be a King.

Mine own King.

King of mine own self, mine own destiny.

My birth will no longer matter,

nor the deeds of my father,

or his father before him.

I shall be mine own man.

A free man.

Before the eyes of the Gods that rule over the old world,

I step over into the realm of my new Gods,

Gods that rule over a strange world, a savage world, a better world.

They will say this man has died,

fallen off the edge of the world,

and they will not be wrong:

I am a new man, mine own man.

I have died and been reborn a free man.

I am mine own man,

and I will tell my sons

that I fell off the edge of the world,

so that they could be free,

so that they could be their own men.

I fell off the edge of the world,

so that my sons could be Kings.

Max Levites - 6/4/11

Reviews

[KimLove "The Beautiful ..]

Max, This is a very thought proking piece. The imagery was good, I could picture him standing there contemplating this decision to stay or go. And then finially saying the heck with it after much inner tumoil he just went forward. Perfect, the way it should be.

[Muse4apoem]

It's awesome Max! :)

[Rose F.]

This reminds me of the movie "The Namesake". It's basically about this guy in India who gets in a train wreck and realizes he hasn't done anything with his life... so he moves to America, gets married, and has 2 kids who don't understand how blessed they are to not be born in India. For me this is like the part when I realizes "I got to get the F out of here."

But yeah. Double meanings. I get it. Good job Maxy!

[Platus]

It's a nice piece of free-verse. I like it.

[WordNerd]

Excellent work.

[Enigma]

Wonderful. Brilliant use of imagey and a very thought-ful piece. Fantastic. :D