INFERNAL YOUTH


At nineteen
I was firm and ripe 
and so assured of immortality
that I squandered it freely
on what I thought was wisdom
and for truth, 
I swallowed some of the world's 
oldest lies.

Now I'm 29, going on 30
and my thighs have slid way down to my knees.
My nipples no longer salute the sun,
but point pretty much where they please.

Maybe I shouldn't quote Cummings,
but what the hell, I'm going to -
'cause the boy 5 years my junior
is "under me, so quite new"
and my innocence, once cumbersome,
has evaporated;
adieu.

So young girls
with your flesh firm as unplucked fruit,
know that the skin is easily bruised
and youth is too soon and easily used up.
If you don't believe 
that this is the truth,
take it from me,
'cause I was once just like you
and I'm finding that youth,
 
infernally,

is not eternal.