what is given is a gift, is
a diagram of independence and
how to be the selfless, seamless
vision of man your mother
thought she had raised you to be.

what is given is a burden,
and weighs hard on sloped shoulders;
you must bear up beneath it,
disciplined like atlas, whose arms
shudder with sobs and sighs.

what is given is a template for risk
and action: you must grow inside
of the lines, or risk losing
something big and bloody, the task
of maturity and possibility.

when the stars come out this night,
they'll show something much greater
than what was there previously:
a man whose stride has evened,
whose pathway is strict and straight.