rituals of passage

at any time we want to find our way
yet roads are barred we know not why
our honour insists we at least try
the bars to conquer and the beasts to slay
to make ourselves the heroes of the play
above the battle we cannot yet fly
to claim true knowledge would be a lie
yet we must claim mastery of the day
there's nothing new written upon the wall
but we must interpret and claim to find
an answer from a source beyond the world
as for the future we will let matters fall
where they list and bring instead to mind
the flag that hitherto we have kept furled