Analysis of Leaving This World

I’ve looked and watched
  you turn away

Seeing things
  you’ve long denied

I grabbed the lion
  by his mane

Staring through
  the devil’s eye

I bought
  a one-way ticket

While never
  looking back

I’ve sailed and searched
  the roughest seas

My rigging
  often slack

I gave away
  all that I had

And asked for
  nothing more

I played the game
  and damned the rules

Rejecting
  any score

I stole my fate back
  from the wind

Which blew
  from side to side

And asking once
  my only wish...

—to leave this world alive

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)