with a tip of my hat
and a sigh on my lips
I walk out the door on my final footsteps
left over right, one over the other
what was my traditional gait will soon fall asunder
to the mystery of it all, the final beck and call
the heavy weight you feel the moment before you're pulled under
and finally see it all
now I have no regrets, I lived my life well
I have many a story spun of the times I climbed and the times I fell
though I gambled and rolled as I lived the charmed life,
my soul I never did sell
I laid in the gutter and stared at the stars
I've breathed the air of freedom, and
seen the world from between the bars
held the weight of the world, I've let my spirit sore
been the rapist of queens and the lover of whores
a life built out of the essence of fiction and lore
fired my bullets and drew my blade
I've stood by my conviction
and laid waste to the vicious parade
there were heights, and great depths
spoke truths to the world, and secrets I have kept
to be the lead actor in this global stage
and felt the range of emotions from tranquility to rage
I've bitterly loved and passionately lost
reaped the heat of hatred and tasted successes bitter frost
its been a full life, with my story well told
so that the warmth of my courage will still beat on
as my body turns cold
so let the script of me be heard and hailed
let loose the embellishment
and tell of me in tall tales
of all of my grandiose accomplishments
and only a few of my fails

I'll own the stage
perform my life as though it was a show
I'll collect the end roses
take solace in that all I have known
-in the aura of my final bow-
all the things I know of not
I will know of now

-close curtain-



free verse done for the challenges
'aura of my final bow'
and
'tall tales'