INFLUENCES

The things I have learned along the way

Does it matter who taught me these lessons

Repeating over and over in my mind every day

ABC, 123

Michael Jackson taught me

How big dreams can be

Float like a butterfly

Sting like a bee

Muhammad Ali showed me

How confident I could be

Top to bottom

Left to right

Morgan Freeman taught me

Reading is out of sight

Through life challenges

All the adversities I see

Malcolm X taught me

By any means necessary I could achieve anything

A slanted smile

A bowler hat

Sammy Davis Jr taught me

To laugh and dance

As Shug Avery sings

With an echoing song of redemption

Alice Walker taught me

The heart can have passion

And poetry is a voice for the soul

Many things I’ve learned in this life

Influences that taught me wrong from right

On this path called life

©Copyright 2016 Thomas Dooley

Words in italics noted quotes