The path I followed to this place
Twisting, turning and rarely pristine
Does not match up with the life I dreamed when I was seventeen.
~
I plotted, planned and figured out
The route that I would follow.
Yet had I done exactly that, my journey: Shallow, hollow.
~
The fullness of my life, as is
Comes not from well-laid plans.
The glories, challenges, when joined, fulfilled divine commands.
~
The hardships I would have foregone,
The ease I would have chosen,
Would naturally have left my soul a shell, stifled and frozen.
~
And so as I look back on it
This life of love, taking, giving
I know the path was the well-laid plan of an entity ever-living.
