There comes a time in every young man’s life
when he just can’t play by the rules anymore.
It isn’t necessarily meant to be a statement
and his motives aren’t always malicious.
There’s just a deep sense in his soul
that draws him to be included
in a life he’s never known before.

Just as the great explorers of the 19th century went out into the unknown,
just as puritans and beat poets have been ever traveling West
just as the entrepreneurs and gold miners want to grab a piece that’s theirs
so has this child reached his hand out into the fog of manhood.

His soul is tortured and restless
but the thirst never seems to be quenched.
He is looking for new continents, religious freedom, the meaning of life, gold, success,
he is looking for what every man has looked for before him.
His true purpose is unknown, especially to himself.

The quest for adventure brings life for a time and then death.
Death to the natives, death to the sailors, disease to the land.
It’s as if it gives death a life of its own.
As he stands on the cusp of the ravaging volcano,
he can see that death as the molten lava that has stirred so long.
begins to cool to become an island of truth and freedom and life.