It has taken time.

To get here

If I can say that I've arrived.

Not just distance counted, but

my tread

through life and circumstance.

I have felt the tropic sun,

The wild north winds

The sting of fellow man.

Weather-beaten, gladdened

in the fields

of foreign lands.

And now I plead your judgement

No more, become too old

You cage the man that I once was

But you cannot cage my soul.