Inside Myself

A man in his life
plays many roles.

Here are the roles
I’ve played in my life.

I was Hopalong Cassidy
and Roy Rogers

a baseball and
football player

a swimmer
water polo player
student government leader
and yell leader

actor
and missionary

husband
and father

religion teacher
management consultant
religious leader
and business owner

grandfather
writer
essayist
and advisor

In my life
I played these roles

It’s a short life
to play all these roles

but

there’s something about life
that transcends these roles

There’s a cracking open
permitting the man to go
Inside himself

There’s more than a role
that goes on inside himself

There’s love
and lust

tears
and fears

pain
adjustment
discipline
and courage

patience
and acceptance
inside of there

There’s an emerging authentic self
inside yourself

It’s where
the music
and math
and poetry
and science
and enduring love
and loyalty
and sympathy
and empathy
and joy
and justice
and mercy
reside

In there I’ve found a happy space
for myself
inside myself

I hear the cries of pain from all the children everywhere in there
I care for each one of them in there

I hear the echoes of the universe in there