Realization
I am a different man
One who died
and was reborn
A boy man
Haunted by childhood
A survivor
A wiry man
Full of rage
One with little choice
Wrestling demons
Welded to irony
A kid minus a father
A guy without dreams
A hermit
A hobbit
A hungry man
Cornered, imprisoned, beaten
A fearful man
A lost soul
Plagued by personalities
A living blank
Humiliated but stubborn
A disregarded man
A walker, a dancer, a runner
An impatient man
A merciless victim
A religious man
A singer of the heart
An indignant man labeled man
Buried alive
A Neanderthal
An android
A metaphorical man
A disabled man
A violent man
A dictator at war with wisdom
A man condemned to victory
.
by Robert Boates
from The Afterlife
Toronto, Seraphim Editions. 1998.