ODE

Life, as said and as agreed by many, is in phases,
And its prices and prizes also, in stages,
The man with the least chance of success is the one who never started,
So our hearts leaped with joy, at the qualification to climb another of life's major ladders,
'Only the strong will survive, Only the wise will excel....', so we brimmed with confidence in our physical strengths and mental vigour,
Onward we moved like Soldiers matching off to war,
Every pace bringing about a new phase, in our quest for the ultimate prize,
Like the proverbial dog of old, we refused to yield to the warnings from our major haunter- failure's whistle,
Together we rolled adventurously and happily like a school of whales with a sole target,
But beyond all the ranting,
There was this gradual freezing out that I noticed,
A constant leaking of ultimate fitting,
A natural grain-shaft separation mechanism,
A once-a-while outbreak of some major inferno,
Extinction thus became inevitable for the few who get burned,
So we got acquainted with some good fire fighters,
To the fire-fighter's house we ran at the slightest of gentle fires,
So the arduous task was being carried out enjoyably,
Because as soldiers, we knew when to attack and defend,
And of course when to flee,
Reality however dawned on us when we found out that even the fire-fighter has his own fire to deal with at times,
Our hearts groaned because prophecy caught up with even the most fervent of prophets at some time,
So this spurred us to learn to solve our own issues by ourselves independently of external help...
The journey was a bittersweet experience,
Filled with highs and lows, ons and offs, pluses and negatives, goods and bads,
And every other description you can give to a double-edged sword,
Like pencil marks on papers, we were constantly threatened with erasers,
Today we look back happily, though exhausted,
We have finally made it to the pinnacle of the ladder,
Against all odds, we have surpassed even the mountain top,
And I cannot but thank all and sundry for all supports in all forms,
I take the opportunity to apologize for all wrongs committed, both willingly and unwillingly,
To everyone with whom I ran the race, I say 'May God renew your strength, for there are still many more mountains to climb and rivers to cross,
May the good Lord keep us all, amen...
But shortly before I cap my ink,
I pay a tribute out to the fallen foliages,
I remember the fallen stars,
I pay another respect to the fallen souls,
The ones with whom we set-out but couldn't make it to the end,
May their souls be granted eternal tranquility,
Nonetheless, it has been a journey worth it,
I weep for the lost dreams and dashed hopes,
For the loss of directions and backwards movements, I drop a tear,
For the circumlocutory gyrations and the ceaseless perambulations,
For the number of times my dog went back to its vomit,
For the amount of re-ensnaring that my extricated prey did to itself,
For the times when my 'bull's eyer' acted dumbly blind,
And for the days of foolish longing for some good old days,
I tender myself a big apology, Accepted?? Sure!!..,
Today our eggs have become fathers to the hens, who laid them,
Once we were sons, but today, even our sons are fathers,
With nothing else to say, I will only ask that you be on the look-out for us,
Because another star has just been sent into the galaxies,
With just one purpose: to light up the nations...