The Self-Made Man

A boy once lived in a world of lies,
His parents told him that he was great
No one would ever cause him to cry,
And he would have no trouble finding a mate.

As he grew into a young man,
The lies continue to be fanned,
He stole and he killed and even bothered to cheat,
His parents just gave him something nice to eat.

He came to a point where he needed to college,
In order to continue his facade of knowledge.
To only the best did he apply,
And was in shock when he was always denied.

The man tried to confront his mother,
But only recieved compliment over his brother.
He tried to open the eyes of his father,
But he learned that he shouldn't have even bothered.

A year passed and the man had got work,
and heard from many women that he was quite a jerk,
he couldn't take the pain anymore,
so he decided to seclude himself and be ignored.

His longing grew ever stronger,
to the point that he became a whoremonger.
Still searching for true love,
he roams the world, on ground and above.

Quite wealthy now he understands,
success is what you do with your own hands,
and how you speak and how you try,
not simply built on lies.

The man grows old, and sick,
his life a candle without a wick,
he calls to his faithful wife,
and relates to her of his early life.

She cries and cries, and holds his arm,
and tells him that he deserves no harm,
he tells her to raise the children without any lies,
then closes his eyes, and quietly dies.

 

Herbert O. Holzbauer
© March 2004

Midi: "I Be There"
(sangmok.co.kr)

Graphic: "Self Made Man"
(madisoncorporatecenter.com)