My youth was short. While others count
Their early years as twenty five, mine number
Roughly twelve. And these dozen
Were always overshadowed by the need to do
Better, as if his praise were some prize to be earned.
Well I grudgingly received it – and more
That I didn’t ask for. Who would,
Knowing that which would come?
And I had never even thought of it.
Little more than a child. Surely the
Earth herself cried out at...
