I’ll say to myself,

“I’ve got time; no big deal,”

I can wait to decide

Till at least my next meal.

So then I will ponder

What I want to eat

And if my moral code

Says not to eat meat.

And meal after meal

Will turn into a year;

Like air through my fingers,

I’ll watch time disappear.

And I’ll keep on wond’ring

Just which life will follow:

If I choose accounting,

Will my life feel hollow?

And how will I feel

Once I’ve made up my mind?

Will the dust fin’lly settle,

Or will I feel behind?

Will I doubt the path

I’ve sidestepped to take?

Will I move to Egypt,

Say I need a break?

And will I maintain

The values I hold?

Or will I convert,

Let my warm heart grow cold?

Will I have decided

That taxes are vile,

And a beautiful brownstone

Is much more “my style”?

Will I have grown wiser

Or lost intellect?

Will I ponder my life

Or still self-reflect?

Will I be a teacher?

Will I join the Peace Corps?

Will I go to grad school?

It could all be in store.

The question is this:

Does it all really matter?

Am I just converting

My brain into batter?

Do I need to worry?

Am I in great danger?

Is there any doubt

I’ll find out I’m not stranger

Than those Wall Street execs

Who pocket such dough

As to make even pop stars

Feel so poor and low?

We may just be different–

Not better nor worse–

That I value traits

Not bound to a purse.

And I pass no judgment

On people who strive

To earn much more money

So they’ll feel alive.

My way is different,–

At least as it stands

At this malleable moment

With life’s present demands.

I may not be always

So idealistic.

Maybe someday

I’ll become realistic.

Perhaps after starting

To pay tons of bills,

I’ll swear off possessions,

Go live in the hills

But really, who knows

What the next meal will be,

Let alone the odd chances

That may come to me?

I might wander this way,

Might err here or there.

I feel limited only

By the vastness of air

That circles my being,

That I breathe in deep,

That covers the world,

That I use while I sleep.

But I know in the end

That no matter what way,

I’ll find my contentment

And avoid my dismay.

The thing to remember

Is there’s no one “right” range.

Instead, it’s a process

Of learning and change.