Aiutobiography in 37 lines

Poem

I Am Growing Up

I am the sum of my genes
and the sum of my experiences.

Not quite a tabula rasa at birth.
A kernel of personality
written in the genetic helix of proteins,
written on every cell of my body,
affecting each decision, each reaction.

Growing up with love; learning to love in return.
Growing up with chores; learning how to earn.
Growing up with siblings; learning how to share.
Growing up with blacks; learning tolerance unaware.

Not a pretty child by nature, nor outgoing,
ridicule taught me compassion, also fear.
Withdrawn and frightened,
hiding in the refuge of books,
wrapped in the blanket of learning,
afraid of being seen and found wanting.

Growing up with ideas; tempered by the time.
Growing up with turmoil; seeking the sublime.
Growing up searching for a god I could not find.
Growing up rebellious; leaving fear behind.

Rebirth is not an easy journey.

Experience and insight at war
with the fabric of my nature.
Fighting that kernel of personality
written in the genetic helix,
written on every cell of my body.

Growing up with longing; true love eluded me.
Growing up with failure; his love precluded me.
Growing up with strength fired by every pain.
Growing up with courage fueled by every gain.

Not quite a tabula rasa, even at rebirth.
But clean enough to choose the lessons to retain.
Clean enough to leave regrets behind
and look forward with eagerness
to the growing up that lies ahead.
Come on life. Surprise me.

 

September 2007 -- Telling My Story

 

Permission to use the DNA drawing under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
Subject to disclaimers.

 

 

Author's Note

Comments welcome.

Reviews

[Lloyd Lofthouse]

This poem is a poem of hope, of growth, of rebirth, of making an effort to control the choices and steps along the path of life instead of letting life control the person. It is true that rebirth is not an easy journey--it is fraught with fear and uncertainly but when he decide to be born again into another self--to change what life has made us or attempted to mold us into, we become something better and life becomes a sharper image enjoyed.