Casualty of Adolescence

Looking at the past through glasses clearer,

Eyes more read and eyebrows thinner

Fifth grade buddies, still remember playing

You got a new tattoo, what are you saying?

We used to struggle spelling out “dictionary”,

Now your throat is stained with a Bloody Mary

Snapchat filters can’t cover up the truth

The brown-eyed girl I once loved isn’t you

We had our first play date, we were building a castle

I was a prince and you were playing bashful

We sipped on lemonade and drew a crayon mural

Now you’re dating boys, and sadly that’s a plural

Clouds of smoke replace sprinkles of glitter,

The closet we used to laugh in, now makes you bitter

Leafs and secrets shoved all throughout

The outfit that you’re sporting leaves me no doubt

That high waisted shorts aren’t holding books we once read

Those knee high socks are in the woods instead

Laughs are a rarity but tears are abundant

Wish we could go back to days we spent running

Childhood memories burnt with your lighter,

Snapped in a photo, caption from some ghost writer

Eyes and judgements made with the touch of a finger

And visions of us playing “house” seem to linger

As mom comes home and finds you with that guy

And the sheets that we once hung to be our night sky

Are the sheets that surround that stranger’s head

But this fantasy is not one that will end

When dinner is set out and mom calls you in

Sliced-up hotdogs spread round, our fingers dig in.

No, now those fingers are pointed at a heart

One that begs for acceptance, love and a part

Of the euphoria we shared when we were friends

And the innocence our mouths spoke with no end

Instead those lips are now flowing with dark lies

To cover up the rotting young heart inside

Who realizes age is not just some number

But a symbol of the time society’s made us number