My Way Was Not Alone - A Poem

 

My Way Was Not Alone

I sing the song that I lived my life my way,
But I lost my way many times, many times,
Paths that lead me astray — in a way.
So my path had many diversions and excursions.

Some were good, some were bad —
Yet each led me somewhere new.
A path I did not plan,
But one I walked, believing it was the same.

Not all paths were walked alone,
Not all roads led to the assumed destinations.

Yet it was never truly my own way.
I chose my path, my path chose me,
Others influenced it, some distracted from it.
I thought I walked alone, but I was not alone —
It was me, myself, and many others too.

Like the lines upon a music sheet,
Their composition — a symphony.
The music of my life, the paths taken,
Like melodic phrases, bar lines shifting,
The sound, the pitch — wavering, never set.
I did it my way, but not alone.
My song was not sung by myself,
Nor was its rhythm a solitary note.

I saw myself, felt as if it were true,
That I alone trod the path, the road,
By myself, by my power alone.
Yet I did not see, could not see,
Those ledger lines beyond my view —
Each changing every note, every sound.
My life — not a single note, but many,
In great variation and style.

I thought I’d composed that music — alone.
I assumed the path to it was mine — alone.
Only to find, in the echoes of my steps,
That the path, that road, was never truly unchaperoned.

Not mine alone at all.
Though I shifted course, changed the tune,
Thought I sang a fresh refrain,
My refrain, my lyrics alone — I did it my way.
Yet it was never, and will never be,
Only my way.

When my end is near, and I face the final curtain,
I will sing it loud and clear —
"I did it My Way,"

But my way — was not alone.

By Mark W. Van Dyke (May 12, 2025)