Here I am, on the first rungs of manhood
claws of teenage desolation ripping my back
Did the blood ever poor this freely?
The future billows like death's cloak
And just as inevitably!

I remember the big lie they told me back in the day
"These are the best years of your life."
What miserable wretches high school had!
I'm hungry, I'm poor, I owe money,
I have bills, I need gas, I play the lottery-
in hopes that my financial problems might go away-
I've lost many of my friends, much of my family.
To time, to death, to those things that happen
I'd still never go back to those years.

Some things are alright.
I'm getting a degree.... eventually
I have a girlfriend of a few years
The friends I still have are close
we play big kid games now.
I still don't think these years are the best
Many days become trials in stamina
Or patience.
Come to think of it...
I hope I never get to the best years of my life
What would I have to live for after that?

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