My early life seemed always
to play the same old song.
I lived a decades-long phase
where I was told “You’re wrong.”

Everything I did or said
was corrected or changed.
It at last went to my head.
I felt foolish and deranged.

In my effort to change my life
I took another way.
I dumped corrective strife.
It seemed foolish to stay.

Now I see the truth of my strange and weird way:
I’m at last honest. Now I must be certain of what I say.