There was a man who was a mask
And every where he’d go
He’d show the world another face
One nobody would know
He’d walk all over, street to street
He’d wander day to day
And every passerby he’d greet
A new and different way
And no one new when he would come
No one knew when he’d leave
No one knew what he had in mind
The cards hid up his sleeve
And though the specter of this man
Loomed in the town so tall
When all took time to stop and think
No one knew the man at all
– Shaman Romney 2019
Sadness is a blanket draped across;
A curtain blocking out the light.
A rock slowly overgrown with moss.
A chill on a dark winter night.Sadness is a badly needed pause
When something doesn’t go quite right.
A moment to identify cause;
Nothing to flee, try as we might.Sadness contrasts the best in our life;
Perspective when our heart takes flight.
A warning alarm for times of strife.
A moment’s calm before the fight.Sadness makes all more erudite:
Ignore it’s wisdom at your plight.
– Shaman Romney 2019
Life is an investment you pay for with time;
Interests accrue seconds of interest.
And money is much more than nickel and dime,
It’s a symbol of effort you did divest.All too often we view our life as a game;
We buy up the tickets and hope that they pay.
Our lives are real, and are usually tame.
The lottery is throwing our time away.If we save our minutes and value hours
Bank all our efforts, and keep looking forward.
We’ll be there when our life finally flowers
And we will be able to reap our reward.So always remember: your time is your own,
How you spend it is your decision alone.
– Shaman Romney 2019
Don’t you wish you had answers
For the demons in your head?
The questions that fill your heart
With anxiety and dread?Don’t you wish that you could know
What it means to be alive?
That you’d understand the point
Of why you suffer and strive?At the end will you wonder
If there was a point at all?
Or were you just a puppet
Moving at fate’s beck and call?When you cut through all the grief,
The self inflicted violence,
Will your self still be yourself
When left alone in silence?
– Shaman Romney 2019
First, take a deep breath;
You know it’s been a while,
But now you’re going to have to fall with style.Second, gauge the distance;
Is it a few feet or a mile?
Who knows how far you’ll have to fall with style?Third, don’t sweat the details
While in this public trial.
‘Cause they don’t matter when you fall in style.And last, embrace your fate.
As you jump, just crack a smile.
For that’s the only way to fall in style.
– Shaman Romney 2019
Normally I don’t post other people’s work on my page, but this is one of my favorite poems. I first read it on the site Art of Manliness, and it spoke to me. I feel it best summarizes my feelings on how be a good, positive man, and an example of beneficial masculinity. However, it is a straightforward message that anyone can benefit from, and it is one I keep in mind as I go about my life. I thought I’d share it for those who have never had the chance to read it before.
If—
If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breathe a word about your loss;If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,If all men count with you, but none too much;If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
I miss you the way a heart misses a beat.
One moment you’re gone and that’s the death of me.
I drag my corpse along; a shambling zombie.
Searching for my soul: the way you complete me.
– Shaman Romney 2018
I feel I am defined by my mistakes
More easily than by my successes.
By times when I could not rise to the stakes;
Times when I gave into my excesses.I say this not because of self loathing,
Or due to obsessive ideation.
Nor, wearing pride like ill fitting clothing,
As an imposter venting frustration.My mistakes are the crux of my story;
The arc starting the path to what’s in store.
At present, they seem ugly and gory.
In hindsight, they’re the path to being more.In making mistakes, if you cannot learn,
Success is impossible to discern.
– Shaman Romney 2018
Between passivity and anger,
Between love and disdain
There is always a third path to takeTo this truth, I am not a stranger
For again and again
Not choosing it is my great mistakeThis path may be filled with much danger
Finding it is a pain
But it’s worth it when life is at stakeAct assertively without anger
Don’t give way to disdain
There is always a third path to take.
– Shaman Romney 2018
I’m staring out at my future
And I’m full of indecision.
Caught between doing what is right
And what is convenient for me.The right is a road untraveled,
Unpaved, unknown, and uncertain.
It frightens me with possibility
With the difficult path it promises.The left is a well paved road.
Well intentioned and familiar bricks;
A path inviting me tread upon it,
Easy and lacking any challenge.I see the choice laid out before me.
The best in me knows the hard path is best
But inside I know I, most likely,
I will choose the path of least resistance.
– Shaman Romney 2018
Shame on The Universe 