Coming of Age

For today, a reflection on the time passing by as we get closer to the end of another year.
—

There are countless memories I can recall
Where I sought the knowledge of someone
Older, wiser, more experienced at life.
I believed they held the answers to my troubles
Within the depths of their minds.

I look back fondly on those mentors and guides
Who I, a lowly child of excessive ego,
Accepted as higher than fellow humans
Or all the pantheons of the Earth.

How often I recall their wisdom and their judgment
Utilized it to direct the course of my life
Ever in the pursuit of a more perfect Form
Which I hoped would make me worthy of their time.

To achieve their knowledge, splendor, sagacious insight
All were required to standing among them.
But as I have come to learn in my time beyond their walls
Such acts would only leave me in want.

I often sought out the wisdom of my mentors
As I traversed the challenges of life
But as I go about my daily affairs
The time for the past reaches an end.

The faces of life rise up daily.
An infant learning to walk
A teen with new conviction.
All these faces with vivacity
Require a guide with direction.

In youth one sees peers as toys in a pen
As means to ends, as objects in orbit
To the center of the universe
The ubiquitous child

But seeing how one’s emotions change,
When approached by the wandering souls
In a realm once focused on self
Is the basis for coming of age.

The adolescent urges have come and gone.
The obsession with passion, the gasping breath of narcissism.
Stars re-aligned, planets up-ended: the new reality comes forth.

To be approached in confidence,
Sought for the insight you possess.
To be esteemed as superior, regardless of station,
And valued for the knowledge you express.

To be regarded as Mentor
By the next generation
And to share the knowledge of your own.
Such acts create the continuum
Of knowledge for the ages.

Coming of age suggests a reaching of self
A completion of objectives
But such is all false

To truly come of age
And join the mentors high above
Focus less on the sky
And more on the faces
That pass you by.