Reality Check

Coming of age,

Leaving the safety of the 
Tunnel of childhood,
Light at the end.
Too intense to fathom.
Playing in fast forward,
Oblivious to hourglass,
Emptying precious grains of time.

Growing up too fast.
Easy prey,
Starry eyed,
Goes forth into unknown.
Dispossessed of
Innocent territory,
As it slips from grasp.

Thrust into deep end.
Decisions- hard knocks 
Of the school of life.
Can't journey 
Through the tunnel 
Go to infinity?

When does child become adult?
Where does one wave fold into the next?
Where are the signposts?
Not so simple,
Lines in the sand,
Not absolute.

At an eye's blink,
I am plunged into
The in-betweenness of 
Adolescence-
Bursting with energy,
Defying the here and now
With an aura of invincibility.

Sham of childhood exposed.
Phony promises of a sky with
No limit, 
Sucks lofty dreams
Down plughole.
Left with the next best thing,
Wishful thinking of what could have been.

That sinking feeling,
Life is holding you under duress,
Stifles desperate gasps for air
In a sterile laboratory of life's
Trials and tribulations.

Cynicism, tugging at the tattered edges of
Optimism.
Who wins?
Jury still out.