Reinventing yourself is not just something you hear in Parade
It's not a celebrity thing, or reserved for Dylanesque poets & singers.
It's like shaving your beard when you become doubtful about how much
Of 'you' is wrapped up in that growth, versus how much is what's hidden.
It's the quest to discover what agony might be exposed when you
Take Out the Kevlar hair and suffer the raw heat of the sun
Where it never shone before - exposing your guts to be shredded
Ritually in the harsh light of reflected honesty - or what might pass for it.
When you slug it out in front of a mirror, refusing the KY-jell gauze,
And see your paunch, your disappearing chin and your slouch --
That's when you can reinvent the basic structure and change what
Propels the madness; that's when you can suck the bullet without needing
The deadly propulsion that wrecks your chances of bringing clarity
To your own mission: that only worthy query, the one that asks:
"Am I worthy of my own life? Am I the hero I have sought?"
Answering takes a lifetime of reinventing to find the constant: truth.
