Above all
I wish to be
An educated man.
A friend alike
Of letters and
Of life.
I will be a man
Of learning and
Well travelled.
I would live a life
Of intellectual conscience
And caring sensitivity.
A teacher,
Who lives life well
Realizing to live
Is to teach by example.
I will strive to experience
All of human being:
The limits of knowing and
The deeper limits of feeling.
To live in the confidence
of being loved
And loving.
To move through this life
And through eternity
As an honest being of integrity
seeking goodness.
I cannot know the purpose
of this life
For God has turned His mirror
from these earthly eyes.
But I know that
each day
Is a miracle of loveliness
beyond far understanding.
And that even the discovery
of my own soul
Is a worthy quest
for this, or any lifetime.
And though, I may not know
what I might yet become,
I know enough,
at least,
To set my course.