My Mark

What is choice?
they say it was given on my start
some are good, some are bad
like peering in the dark,

When I set out upon my future,
I could not count on my heart
but on the things of importance
that weren't just a lark,

When on my own I met the world
it wasn't pretty like in art
but rough and tough,
like scratching naked on some bark

So I worked to take my place,
trying to fill my own life cart
and to my surprise,
I wasn't leaving the slightest mark
     -----------------------------------
Now I'm old,
looking back upon my start,
I realize that some choices
I did make in the dark,

I look ahead at my children
and pray deep within my heart
that their thinking isn't
that life is just a lark,

today I can appreciate
the beauty that's in art,
my tough exterior is but a farce,
truly, I am not as hard as bark,

I can now count on what I see
the things I've put inside my cart,
my wife, my children, and my life,
I have no riches, but I have left my mark.