These Are The Things They Don't Teach In School

These are the things they don’t teach you in school:

you will want to grow up, and when

you do, you’ll wish you never did.

You will sit on abandoned rooftops

waiting for the sunrise’s brush strokes

from  a dawn’s early kiss while listening

to Back to Black, and you will learn

that you will only want to fall in love

with someone whose willing

to catch the sun with you.

Once you find freedom you will

fall in love with train rides,

with the company of strangers, and

some day you will find out that

no where will feel like home;

anywhere can feel like home.

You will kiss a man; his lips will feel like flower petals

rubbing together, and you will not tell

anybody how much it meant.

You will see that love is admirable

when we live in a world where love

is meekly draping the veil of burning lust.

You can leave this place if you want

with your skin as a story book for whoever

is left behind, and your skeleton

will hold bouquets of tulips

trailing strangers away from their home town -

do not feel guilty when you don’t fit inside your own skin anymore.

Mold. Transform.

 

Lick fires kindling underneath

your eye lids, and do not cry when hurricanes

break glass windows caging your emotions;

your body has never been a storm-free zone,

and although the shutters shall break often

do not be afraid; do not be afraid.

All you’ll ever need is a bus ticket,

a pack of Belmonts, and maybe a twenty

in your pocket.

All you’ll ever need is someone

across the ocean, awaiting the supple

curve of your body to guide you somewhere

you can call home spread upon miles, and miles, and miles.

You will have years when the phoenix will not rise.

This is just a tribulation; the silence that comes

with waking up alone might choke you.

Out of all the diseases, loneliness starves the most.

When you are walking down a crowded street

with the opening rain clouds screaming hallelujah, you will pass

a smile to a stranger, and you will never see him or her again.

This is the truth. The ABC’s of growing up

has never been black and white �" the different shades

of blue will leave tangled chains of gold constricting

the stained glass windows that you have constantly replaced.

I promise you that someone will follow the scent

from the burning bridges you have set on fire.

Don’t expect them to extinguish,

because they might just set themselves on fire with you.

Just because burning meant another source for light

never meant that we have to watch relationships

melt like candle-wax lovers.

Kissing flames has always

left ashes in your mouth, so

turn out the fire place, and among

the darkness you will notice

the sun kissing powder feathers,

and you will witness rebirth.

There will be times when the storm

might not pass, but remember a stranger mentioned

that the wind has always told you something

worth writing poems about.

And if you ever think you’ll never get through this,

remember you also thought things lasted forever.