youth
in youth we are taught to SAVOR
the BULB of burgeoning life.
AGAINST the advice of our elders,
we forget to relish our youth,
preferring resentment OVER
LAUGHTER.
we would rather HORRIFY
than LOVE,
rather disobey
than conform,
desperate in our innocence
to taste the forbidden APPLE
of adulthood
even if it causes us INJURY.
we are content to POISON ourselves
with a lust for the future.
we pluck the seeds of development
early
in an attempt to hasten
our bodies
towards the sweet freedom of adulthood.
readily, we IGNORE the responsibility
that falls upon our shoulders in the process.
and JUSTICE all too often
raises her SWORD to strike us down,
SCALE tipped,
but not in our favor.
in our rush to taste the FLAVOR of adulthood,
we have turned from grapes to RAISINS,
losing the substance that gave us our
vitality,
and set out to dry
in nursing homes and hospice care.
the world has shriveled us,
and thus our life is over
before we even let it BEGIN.
in our fear of youth,
we've started to understand
why our parents are AFRAID of age.
every PUPPY loses its energy,
every EAGLE goes bald.
youth is fleeting,
and the young are afraid of its
impermanence.
but age is eternal,
passed from generation to generation
like a cursed heirloom,
and the old are afraid
to acknowledge
that they're
just like
their parents.