mark of distinction

some choose some wait but heroes seldom laugh

at life or fate that's for  the braver fool

who enters action with a certain cool

and finishes the final paragraph

not in the weeds and out beyond the chaff

like any villain we who've been to school

refuse to smile obedient to that rule

established on the citizens' behalf

which choices made permit you to depart

towards new worlds where other pains await

not eager now as you were at the start

but better studied in the ways of fate

yours is the hand but not the means to guide

the angry heart away from paths of pride