Lessons for Tate

Life isn't easy. It isn't meant to be. I'm not one who believes finishing 3rd is winning. We do children a disservice awarding them trophies for participation. Life is a struggle beginning to end.

Tatortot and I. A few years ago

These scars I wear each tell a tale

of moments I'll never forget

When loves spark, had once left it's mark

and the fates had called in their debt

 

My legs torn by years of abuse

racing horses like all my kin

I'd gone down hard, leaving them scarred

the limestone would tear off your skin

 

But these were offerings of note

in a life spent chasing ideals

Testing extremes, of my own dreams

run down more than once by the wheels

 

Son you can't live your life afraid

of each danger that comes your way

So play the odds, tempt the damn gods

rise up and face each new born day

 

When you are but old and feeble

with your grandchild upon your knee

Tell your stories, of life's glories

show him the scars so he can see

 

A life spent cowering from pain

will  leave you so aching inside

The gift you'd miss, from life's sweet kiss

knowing you never even tried

   

Younger days when I believed. "Ill sleep when I am dead.

 

Reviews

[David Scott]

I like telling your son not live afraid. It is the courageous who win the day. Every time! Great lesson here Tate.

[Ravyne Hawke]

Great poem, Tate. I clearly understand the stories behind scars... I have some I wish to tell and others I am too ashamed to tell. Excellent reminder to a child not to just sit back and watch life happen, but be apart of life.

[quinfinn]

a very well written glimpse of the pains and pitfalls of growing up and pushing forward to the pride you take in younger reflections as you age and season. great poem!

[Marie]

Scars tell the story of a life, and whether they are earned honorably or not, they give proof that you lived.

You always choose my favorite songs.

[poeticpiers]

Read and understood Tate You made a god job of this one. It's not the scars you can see that have the greatest effect but the ones nobody can see. The remants of past hurts inflicted by life and circumstances beyond control.
We all experience life in a different way but the lessons are much the same. When you fall get back in the saddle and press forward ivor

[KAOlmsted]

Tate...phenomenal write, friend. I wear every one of my scars like a badge of honor, from the one on my forehead I got when I was three as the result of falling off the radiator to the one on my left thumb I got by cutting it myself down to the bone with a shard of broken glass...we are, each and every one of us, an accumulation of scar tissue and, as you said, each one tells a tale.

(great song, too...reminds me of singing with my father...very cool)

-kimmer

[Baby Ricochet]

Great poem Tate. I really liked that song too. The Lyrics kinda reminded me of Jack Kerouac.