Seventeen

What they don’t tell you about getting older

Is that people forget.

People forget that you are still aging,

That your life is still important.

What they don’t tell you about turning seventeen

Is that they aren’t worried about you anymore.

You’re almost an adult,

Almost.

What no one told me about being seventeen

Was your age is just a number now.

Soon you’ll be 20,

30,

70.

I wish someone would have told me

About getting older.

To enjoy the little years

With careless adventures

And early bedtimes.

I wish anyone would have told me

It gets stressful

And difficult.

Why didn’t they tell me

My bike riding, fort building, rock throwing days

Would come to an end?

Because here I am.

Seventeen,

Wishing I could go back.