Soul Searching

For all of nature was hidden away in his palms

All his relations greeted him with open arms

All quests led him to the summit

And so, all his gloom seemed to fade into light

 Yet when he gazed inwards, he found no distinct path

 A promenade that covered only a section of a sea unbelievably vast

A land so transient that it made him think that every next was his last

When all of land vanished beneath, plunged he into waters unknown

 

 As he plunged deeper and deeper into the water

The darkness that lurked about every corner of his vision

Engulfed and smothered him with deadly passion

As the shallowness of his life became apparent in this abyss of a sea

He slowly began to cut away his vision for there was not much to see

 Just then a flicker of light emerged out of nowhere

Then the flicker turned into a blinding burst swallowing everything everywhere

When his eyes opened, he was standing at the crossroads of destiny

Two roads diverged into the woods of dilemma and confusion

 One road led to the mesmerising hills and the other to an enchanting forest

His mind perplexed by the absurdity of the number of choices, took the path sorest

Took he the road that was really the least taken,

Laced his shoes to run back to a reality he had long since forsaken.

 Away from all the competition and the expectations he ran

Drifting and dodging every responsibility he galloped

Away from fame, away from all his accomplishments he bolted

He ran abandoning his entire sense of self

 After a run that seemed to last an eternity, when all his accomplishments had died out

He reached a strange amusement park far, far out

The boards there had his name inscribed

The people there were but his past selves in their elements

 He saw many different versions of himself in that magic land

One was swimming in the pool like a crab upon sand

One made a volcano out of cardboard and sand

One was studying with a grin on his face

One lifted the barbell, totally dominating the space

 All of them were vestiges of him no doubt

However, for some reasons they were strangers to him all about

They did the same things he did, existed and thrived in the same places

 However, one thing was fundamentally different

There was no one other than him all around to validate his work

Not a single person to tell him how good or bad a boy he was

Only an eternity of him and him alone

Immersed in the things he liked

Without any external validation that he could own

 It was then that he realized

That in quest of obtaining everything and pleasing everyone

There was one major that he had sacrificed

His own soul was the one under the butcher’s blade

 So lost was his soul that an entirety of an ocean helped it hide

So lost was his sense of self that he was a stranger within himself

All those quests competitions and conquest may help you rise

What value does it have though

If the soul isn’t present to take the prize?