My Truth

Tate and I

This the question of existence

to be a good soul all my days

I find the problem in my years

setting example by my ways

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As I have tried to reconcile

with the conscience that rules my soul

I always find I come up short

never quite reaching that fine goal

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When I was young I ruled the waves

holding sway in every court

I did as my heart commanded

as if life were a game of sport

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But now that I am not alone

I find myself caring much more

How my character is perceived

and what I hide behind each door

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So now I have committed to

repairing the mistakes and flaws

Fixing all the things that went wrong

when I did not follow the laws

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I pray that I be successful

in changing my bad ways to good

To give my child a fighting chance

just as every father should

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If only I could travel back

to correct the sins of my youth

I could tell him to be like me

knowing I was telling the truth

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Author's Note

It hurts my soul to even think of some of the foolish misguided passions and mistakes my life once fed. Don't we all wonder what if? I suppose we all would like to be forgiven for the transgressions of our youth. If we could who among us would not go back and repair the damage we have wreaked? Every time I have been upset with my son. I think back to the wasteland that my youth devastated. I find it easy to forgive his little transgressions.
I'm proud to say my son is a better man than me. And my wife a better woman than I deserve. But I shall stay with her so long as she will have me and count my never ending blessings.

Reviews

[Christina May Shanaberg]

Your writing, lately, says that you are becoming a better man than you believed that you could be. You have opened the shades, taken the shades from your eyes; you are seeing life living, maybe, for the very first time. Your observations are filled with beauty. You have come full circle. You are blessed and are, finally, humble enough to recieve the blessing. I love your recent writes, because you are so alive, finally. No more searching, but knowing. You are a very talented man and, now, you know just how gifted you are to be able to express your feelings to the world. Your son is lucky to have you, as you are now; yesterday is dead and gone. Tomorrow lives on. I loved this! Perfect!!

[patricia]

nice reminder to change our ways. Thanks Tate. Enjoyed your authors notes too.

[A. Fischer]

It is thoughts that I have myself. All the mistakes I've made, lessons learned.....they are tools that afford us the ability to rear our children (with the intentions of righting all the wrong) by guiding them to be greater than ourselves. My children have been my greatest motivation in life and I'm so proud to see them growing into such amazing young men!

[Mauricio Montoya]

love that first stanza so true so true, I always find wisdom in your work as I've said many a time in the past, i guess that's a part of life you're able to see and write.
great job, well done.

[Judy Ponceby]

Beautiful and so moving Tate. :) You no doubt make your son proud as well as your wife. :) Love the photo. Your words evoke your love for your son and your regret for past actions. Well done as always! :)

[Hayley]

Wow. The last stanza really says it all. The mistakes of childhood cannot be taken back. It just matters how you conduct the rest of your life and your efforts to becoming a better person after those mistakes. And just to add in here, your simplistic rhymes go perfectly with the subject matter every time you put pen to paper!

[angelina]

but the man today is made from the man from yesterday and from today, the man will be a man of the future. so the man should never be ashamed of who he was yesterday because he learned from his mistakes and took them to heart if not, then he will learn the harder way. existence is all about improving. if not for improvement, then what are we to strive for?

[Sunni Davis]

Its very important to have those mistakes to grow on. Its evident that you are growing, changing into a better person because you ask those "what if" questions.

[Andy Ruffett]

I love this poem. We all wonder about the big IF. But I wonder, if we changed the ways we regret, what path we would now leading ourselves on now that we've changed events?