the saving grace of hard knocks

he was trouble in high school
from getting hit too much at home
didn’t take crap anywhere else

he acted up in every class
except in one study class
where the teacher was elderly
and exceptionally nice to him

he got kicked out of school
many times for bad behavior
he was too rebellious and
rarely did any homework
he barely graduated D’s and F’s
college wasn’t in his future
bad grades poor family

he went into the air force
was a bad actor there
couldn’t fit in with the rules
and all the enforced conformity
got drunk and troublesome
confined for 30 days under guard

had an epiphany while confined
saw it was him and not them
began to reinvent himself
took colleges courses A’s & B’s
returned home from the air force
a peacemaker and a matured man

spent his final days helping
the elderly with a nonprofit job
received praise and accolades
the last an award from a college
for his achievements with the elderly

bob boyd

Author: BobBoyd

Age 80. Cancer survivor since 3 years ago. Work out 3 times a week. Ride my exercise bike 2 hours a day. Live a solo reclusive life. Retired a year ago from working with the elderly in a nonprofit. Started writing poetry a little over a year ago; most poems I write are fictional but some are not. Spiritual with a permanent spiritual experience. Write poems on many subjects. Always researching for many of my poems and because of my unquenchable thirst for knowledge. After reading and hearing about many near death experiences and death bed visions, I believe death is the ultimate awakening and the relocation of a lifetime. You may believe differently, but you have the right to be wrong -- I'm just messing with you. :-) View all posts by BobBoyd