`
Back when I was young
I was excited all the time
I would dart about, or laugh, or cry
Without reason, without rhyme
But then they all told me,
"You're restless, calm down.
Sit here, learn some manners
And stop being a clown."
I was a nuisance (I thought)
I needed to be calm
I practised being patient
So calm I could become
And slowly as I grew
Ever calm, I tried to be
I made a thorough habit of it
And that habit became me.
Thus goes on this list
Of what (I thought) I ought to be
And a potful of these habits now
Is what has become me
And tonight it seems so funny
This myth I've lived in:
Believing I cannot be
What my habits haven't been.
`
Back when I was young
I was excited all the time
I would dart about, or laugh, or cry
Without reason, without rhyme
But then they all told me,
"You're restless, calm down.
Sit here, learn some manners
And stop being a clown."
I was a nuisance (I thought)
I needed to be calm
I practised being patient
So calm I could become
And slowly as I grew
Ever calm, I tried to be
I made a thorough habit of it
And that habit became me.
Thus goes on this list
Of what (I thought) I ought to be
And a potful of these habits now
Is what has become me
And tonight it seems so funny
This myth I've lived in:
Believing I cannot be
What my habits haven't been.
`
Baltimore, MD,
October 2011
