The Beginning

A man was born

His parents took him home

Placed him among his siblings (many siblings for his parents were energetic)

And raised him as a part of their proud family

Until, inspired by images of the eldest sibling who left home to seek his fortunes,

The siblings left home one by one

And a man too, left the parents behind, to their chagrin

To forge his own paths and chase his own ideals and not the ones enforced on him

Upon leaving home, a man came across a path

A winding path, a ponderous path, turns and polar destinations

He set out, determined to make a trail for himself

But, distracted by irrelevancies, he soon turned into another path

Rocks gashed his legs and the uneven terrain twisted his ankles

Until he fell into a ditch and lay there for two years, six months, one week and two days

Before he mustered the strength to crawl out

His ragged clothes hanging loosely on his emaciated, broken frame

He mustered the strength to crawl back onto the original path and continued his journey, broken bones and all.

Now

Fifty years are gone, a man is older and scarred, emaciated to the point of starvation

He has walked many paths and made many journeys

Accompanied by two friends, Pain and Suffering

He doesn't know it but his feet have turned onto a path they've walked before

Pain and Suffering warn him, for it was here they first knew a man (but alas, a man had grown so used to their voice that he pays no heed)

A man doesn't recognize the path for it has aged since fifty years ago

The rocks are sharper, the terrain even more uneven

And the ditch is still there, in all its painful glory, deeper and steeper than ever before

Waiting for a man who stumbles ever so surely to his end.