Seventeen

Written when I was seventeen, this poem sums up my favorite part of my 17 year old life.

Nine o' clock.
Starshine drizzles down from the clear Georgia sky,
and pools in puddles and pavement and pine trees and blue eyes.
She is radiating seventeen.
Letter jacket, tie dye, multi colored scarves, and makeshift mittens
But mostly she is wearing the sweet safe shimmer of
Surrender.
Surrender to the void, the yet uncharted slate stretching as far as she could see.
Surrender to the music streaming out from the headphones and the leafy wind and her own voice.
Surrender to the truth of her own inadequacy.
In this moment, she loves who she is:
she is His.
it is their time.
Not her time or alone time;
Their time.
Time to revel in the togetherness and the truth
that he made her stars and her dirt roads and her pine trees
just so she could enjoy them
(Is it possible to feel your own eyes sparkle?)
Time to beg for the hearts of needy friends
Time to be uncertain of the future and shed big, loud, free falling tears
-yet somehow-
Every ice cold breath of February air gave her
hope.
Because in the end,
love wins.