Stanza I

When I was young, I was not yet full grown;

And still, though middle-aged, I am not yet

Full grown, but am just a middle-aged man,

Whose lust and luster for life has remained

Unchanged in a wandering wondering of

Aimless bits and pieces of tidbits and 

Bit parts, leading nowhere in particu-

Lar nor anywhere in general—only

To the place I am in right here, right now:

A man in the middle.

Stanza II

Young as I was, unformed and unwitting,

I chose to become as unshapely and

Unseemly as I could; now, as a mid-

Dle-aged man in the middle of life, I

See that I am but a series of choic-

Es that were made for me and have yet to

Be made by me and for me and through me,

That I am the result of what has tran-

Spired unto me by those around me—

A man in the middle.

Stanza III

Though I am not yet fully grown, I mean

Not to shirk my responsibilities,

Nor fail to pay in full the debts that I owe,

Nor allow my childish ways to take the

Upper hand, laying blame on ignorance

For my failures, mistakes, and misdeeds that

I have engendered by my own choices;

Indeed, I will, as I must, reap the har-

Vest I have sown, being the man I am,

A man in the middle.

Stanza IV

Age came upon me quickly with its slow

Tread and steady pace: soon I was not so

Young, though not fully grown—I was somewhere

In the middle, between the place of be-

Ginning and of ending, whether halfway

Or not, I don’t know, except that I moved

With time, unwitting and unformed as I

Was, a babe and a man, the two in one,

Playing out tidbits and bit parts of this life—

A man in the middle.

Stanza V

In my youth, I was in middle manage-

Ment, and I worked hard to get to the top:

Still, today, I am in middle manage-

Ment, seeking my wayward way through aimless

Wonderings wherein I wander with as

Much direction as a man with a map

Upside down and crossed out, with a hole in

Its middle, leaving room for life’s lusty

Lustering lust for the blest lustrum of

A man in the middle.