Beyond the Wall

As the light twinkles through my fingertips,
my mind departs on a wonderful trip.
I see flowers above me, below me, around me,
flowers go on for as far as I see
until I come to an end and find a long road.
To find out where it goes, I ask a small toad.
The toad says, "There, sir, the road goes there."
I say, "Where is there, sir, anywhere?"
He says, "There is your direction, your very next step
"to find your Life's perfection and whatever happens next;
"there is what you make of it: your future not shown;"
and so I began down the road unknown.
Now, each step is different, and on some I trip,
but I get right back up with a new break in my lip
until I see something blocking my sight,
something large and luminous that doesn't seem right.
As I approach it, I'm scared and I fall
for blocking my path is a rather large wall.
I say to myself with a gasp in my breath,
"Oh no! It's the end! This must be my death!"
but as I stare at the wall, I start using my head
and aptly remember what the small toad had said.
He said, "There is what you make of it, your future not shown."
So I made a keyhole, then a key out of stone.
Now, let's take one moment and we'll pretend
that maybe (just maybe) Death isn't the end.
I put the key in the lock and I turned it (like so),
but what I saw after that, you'll never know
unless you come to your wall and try not to bond
and then use your head to take you beyond.

Author's Notes:

2 March 2010
When I was eleven years old, I woke with a start at 2:30 in the morning and scribbled out this poem into a notebook that I kept beside my bed for such events.  When I woke the next morning, I opened the book to examine what I'd said and felt confident that it was the best thing that I had ever written.  I closed the book and went on about my day.

There are very few poems that I have memorized.  This is one of them.  I can say it at any possible given occasion, I am certain.  The words have barely changed at all since its original conception.  I believe the only world therein that still remains somewhat ephemeral to me is the word "Until" in "Until you come to your wall and try not to bond."  This word I'll often swap with "Unless" and feel fine with either way.

23 February 2013
The following updates have been made:

- Capitalization follows sentence structure rather than line designation.
- "Unless" used instead of "Until" in "Unless you come to your wall and try not to bond"
- A misplaced "So" or two removed at the beginning of lines, 'cause it sounded weird.
- Title changed from "Living Beyond the Wall" to "Beyond the Wall"
- "and aptly remember" changed from "and then I remember what the small toad had said." 

New:

He says, "There is your direction, your very next step
"to find your Life's perfection and whatever happens next;
"there is what you make of it: your future not shown;"
and so I began down the road unknown.

Old:

He says, "There is what you make of it: your future not shown;"
and so I began down the road unknown.