"Youth"

     Youth is to be very young,

     to have fun, take good times

     with bad, and of course, when

     talking with your mom & dad,

     to watch your tongue.

     To be young at heart is to feel

     free:

     Freer than a limb or blossom

     of a tree;

     People say that the youth of

     today is no good;

     But, they musn't forget that

     they became young at heart

     in their childhood.

     This poem was written during my freshman year in high school,  a sort of social commentary on the way I felt when adults would complain about "the kids of today"...it was subsequently published in the 1977-1978 high school yearbook, which gave me the courage to share my writing abilities.

     During my sophmore and junior years, I also had poetry published in an anthology and subsequently was awarded two creative writing awards during each of the two school years.  I decided to share it with Gather members because this poem---along with the poem "Alone" were the first two of my poems to be published.