Brian’sPoems

The Collected Writings of Brian J. Mueller

A single poem, met at the right moment, can change a life.

Search and read all 1,834 pieces by Brian J. Mueller — 1,675 poems, 38 prose pieces, and 121 haiku from 12 published volumes. Free to read and share.

Search tips

Search by title, first line, poem text, book, or type — results appear as you type. Look inside the poems for any word or line, or wrap a phrase in "quotes" to find it exactly. Use the chips and the book menu to narrow things down.

← All poems

Young Man

The young man doesn’t realize
the wilderness he seeks to tame
is within.
So he seeks adventure
and agrees to fight wars for old men
who themselves have never consented to die.

If he is lucky,
his life will continue
and he will be offered humility -
through love and family,
through loss and hardship,
through letting go and starting over.

Should he ignore the signposts,
he will do so at his own peril.
And if he continues to ascend
the mythic mountain of his own making,
he will most certainly sacrifice others
to remain among the living.

Yet if he should turn his gaze inward,
and open his heart and his arms,
he may calm the wild within him,
and offer his life for others.

Published in