Life
given
brief in joy
ceaseless in grief
yet equal in sum

guided by our elders
though our first steps are clumsy,
they will help us to stand upright.
yet pride makes paying heed uneasy,
and youth does cast aside all of their fright.

Heralds of the present, fear not their sad past!
your strong hands brush away the old terrors and fears.
with time and strength and passion, your potential is vast,
surely yours is the generation that ends cause of tears.

A toast to their glorious futures they so justly will reap,
Forgotten entirely our direst lesson, earned in scars and wounds:
That fate comes for us all sooner than wished, surging forth in bounding leap
And before your goals achieved, our causes avenged, their task is interrup


Penned by my hand on the 14th of Valnuary, in the year 794 AF.