A Theme Is Beginning...

A new friend has asked a question of me. I'm working on the answer.

For now, I'd like to post this poem. I think it fits in with the 'What am I doing with my life?' theme, which seems to be on my mind all the time lately. It's one of my favourite poems (although it is written in the male form).

It was found written on the wall of an anonymous prisoner's cell on death row. It's called...

'The Man In The Mirror'

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your father, your mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass,
But the man, whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest.
For he's with you clear up to the end,
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You can fool the whole world, down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the guy in the glass.


(I have just found out that the poem is incorrectly titled and should be 'The Guy in the Glass' by Dale Wimbrow, 1934)