[center][b][u]The Voice Within[/u][/b]

The gates of the mind seal up,
Water of knowledge leaks quietly
Forward past the red doors
That confine the deepest
Thoughts and opinions
Shielded by a fearful haze
And misted shyness that refuses
To lower the walls and share
Rich feeling and simple
Moments; nostalgia,
Collective memory.

Scream out!

Turn the key in the lock
And if your hand fumbles,
Then break the great barrier
With a defiant battering ram
That roars out your name:
Will I Am
And see the dam fall
As stream of consciousness
Pours out with images
Of colored balloons
Flashes of strobe lights
Empty handles, blurred faces—

No,
Reach further back
To the giggling child
Who took his first steps
On smooth hot sand
Getting lost in the immensity
Of the endless blue that 
Stretched forever both
Above and below.
Only the first of many
Sights imprinted on the checklist
From life lived on all fours
To standing tall—

Look!

Now you stand on
That treacherous cliff
Staring down at the pitch
Black darkness of adulthood
And the quiet echoes back to
You, deafening loud
Silencing now
That rippling tide of potential
Laughter and late night
Chats with the beautiful
Girl in a dark theater,
But you don’t have to
Clench the red doors
For what resides behind
Is not theirs. 

It’s yours.[/center]