When I Was Young

When I was young,
It appeared my life was to be so simple
Any woe no worse than an unpopped pimple
Roads ahead spacious and unrubbled
My freedoms were free and untroubled
My wines would be sweet and hub-bub-bubbled,
So I thought when I was young.
Then the truth started to speak to me
And my vanity's triumphs seemed weak to me
My road curved around and fed into a loop
My fanciest drink became bathwater soup;
Somewhere at some time estrangement beckoned
So often the third wheel and rarely the second
None of this oddness had I ever reckoned
When I was young.
Moments of sunshine when others say "hi"
Farewells and failures bring tears and a sigh
Now that I've hatched, I'm a bird that can't fly . . .
I am no longer young.