Repeating mistakes...

Its almost funny,

That despite the lessons, 

I think I've learned,

I keep making the same mistakes.

I've ignored the wisdom of my father,

The writing of the sages,

The adages known to all,

Truth ripened through the ages

Words of advice,

Ones I later found correct; 

I ignored at first oration,

Confused by self-respect. 

Was I not also man, 

Blessed with reason and cognition?

Was I not the sole arbiter 

Of my final destination? 

Shouldn't I then,

Every now and again,

Seek intellectual wealth? 

Lest, I regret, 

Learn ways not adept, 

Of being true to myself?

I made my own choices,

And headed my own voices, 

Developing a moral code;

I assembled a belief, 

That brought me no grief,

Navigating earthly abode. 

But as years passed,

I met again with lessons learned. 

Yet I found myself

Revisiting actions burned

From my cerebrum. 

Of the wrong disposition.

Of impetuous nature.

Of unwound contrition.

Of mistaken behavior.

It seems I'd learned nothing from my journey.

That the answers I held true, 

Were drafted by inner attorney,  

Lacking experience and hindsight view.

The one thing I can take, 

From repeating a mistake,

Is that now I have a second chance, 

To heed the advice the elders advance. 

For nothing is new under the sun.

So I might as well learn, 

To avoid a third burn, 

From things already done.