I Chose Life

I have been walking
And walking continuously,
Unknown of destination, the end,
Wherever that may be.

My flask’s half empty,
The food’s perished long ago.
A ragged outline, a disheartened soul,
Even determination runs low.

The path is twisted, and narrow, and steep,
But on and on, I have to go.
A sorry figure, all alone,
With heavy burdens to tow.

I watch enviously as people pass by,
People with greater determination.
People with near ones to lean on to,
Not shunning their love, as I have had to shun.

Not infrequently I am tempted
To the green Meadows on both sides;
There are clothes, and food, and water,
But nothing much else besides.

For they are the Meadows of Death
Where you are redeemed of all strife.
But where you are also lost, a nobody,
That is why, I chose life.

‘Cause I have a thirst to prove,
to prove them all wrong.
Success will be mine someday,
And that won’t take too long.

But it’s irresistible, the delicious food,
When hunger stabs like a knife.
So easy to be down in the meadows,
But, being the fool I am, I chose life.

For I feel it is an illusion, those Meadows,
This here is the real thing.
With hunger, and thirst, and pain,
And other miseries it will bring.

So I will walk on as far as I can,
Then go off to the Meadows,
I’ll do what I can, do it best
And then forever, lie low.

But a lot of things are yet undone,
A lot of deeds to do, under the sun.
Many more days on the edge of the knife,
Because I chose life…….