This Man In Black

This Man In Black

As I sit in these pews, I look up in awe
At this man in black
Once a man without ambition
Once a man without virtue
Once a man without principal
Once a man without purpose

From a world where liars win and injustice rules
Comes a man seeking rationality and purpose
A reason to pull through in a superficial world
Where respect and happiness all came down
to whether or not you ended up in the right gene pool

As I sit in these pews, I look up in awe
At this man in black
Once a man without ambition
Once a man without virtue
Once a man without principal
Once a man without purpose

A man once flustered, confused, fumbling for words
Could no longer speak nor have verbal communication with others
“Like the normal people”. A line that spat from a mother’s mouth

A man who turned to speaking through poems and song
Isolation, a source of refuge and inspiration for all his creation

Friendships crumbled, love burned
An understanding that became a fact of life
Dismissed as an incompetent fool
An existence was molded.

Claiming ownership of the city’s streets, titled society’s eyesore
His sustenance consisted merely of the simple trust
of soft grass and heaps of “society’s leftovers”

As I sit in these pews, I look up in awe
At this man in black
Once a man without ambition
Once a man without virtue
Once a man without principal
Once a man without purpose

Until one day, a man in black stood before this wretch
“Get up my son, complete yourself”, said the minister.
Never given an ounce of compassion
or even acknowledgment of existence
He wept. Got up on his feet, and walked off to a new start

As I sit in these pews, I look up in awe
At this man in black
Once a man without ambition
Once a man without virtue
Once a man without principal
Once a man without purpose

[If we could see the beauty of hope
It could always find the way into
Our heart hungry heart, soul, and mind]
This man took his adversity
Learned from his misfortune
Learned from his pain
Found something to believe, and believed in himself
Turning adversity into ambition, a spirit blossomed, leaving behind a life of destruction

As I sit in these pews, I look up in awe
At this man in black
Once a man without ambition
Once a man without virtue
Once a man without principal
Once a man without purpose

…Now a man complete
I feed off this wisdom
I never thought I would see

- Colin Chau
November 7/2004 Copyright © 2004 Colin C