Childhood is the playpen that keeps out the real world;

holding you close till you're readily unfurled

At the beginning it's the ignorance that keeps us at ease

crawling across the room from point A to point B

No need to self-start when the path's already paved

The biggest challenge of your childhood is learning how to behave

However, as the good days close and secondary school begins

it seems “you versus the world” turns into “the world just wins”

Objectives become cloudy as priorities clearly start to tangle,

and decision-making gets harder as morality dangles

The older you get the clearer things may become,

though what used to be priorities have been spit out like gum

Personal image is atop the list followed closely by friends,

just watch through high school as most those relationships just end

The final year before you start your life is where you pull it all together

The last thing you want is not leaving because you're tethered

Stop to smell the roses before you break into a run

Because it's time to bloom as a flower or be scorched by the sun