Reformatted: 09-05-13.
I do not own Dead Poet's Society, or the words of Henry David Thoreau which are italicized before the poem, and no money is being made from this fanwork.
Neil
"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately.
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...
to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came
to die, discover that I had not lived."
Born to privilege,
you never knew desire.
Your father gave you everything,
planned your success,
told you how great you could be.
He gave you everything-
everything but your life.
everything but choice,
Freedom.
As he urged you higher,
he clipped your wings.
You met a man who spoke
To your soul-
Awakened sleeping giants.
For "there must be
a spark
in little men that can
burst
into flame."
A taste of passion,
pure, unadulterated.
A taste of
Perfection.
A moment when you knew
You could never go back.
You knew your life's work-
Your path.
That path not taken.
That divergent path,
So full of mystery
and fulfillment.
Did you think,
Could you have known,
the lions that barred
that path?
Lions you could have
vanquished
Had you but listened
to the Puck spirit within-
that whispers, carpe
carpe
carpe diem.
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