I've Been Young

by Sherrie Stayner, 1973

I've been young once,

and innocently splashed in swampy

pools, barely escaping disease from

germs I didn't comprehend.

I've gone outside the confines of my keds,

and let the cool mud squish between my toes.

After -- the brick heat of the road would sometimes

leave me crying.

My thirst's been quenched from

neighborhood ponds and I have carelessly run

to catch friends through streets of screeching

brakes.

Clumsily I acquired scars of youth,

Imprints of growing up.

I looked at life unafraid --

Leaned way over rushing streams

Trampled through thorns

And reached too high to feel and hold nature.

Falls filled with tears

Results of stinging bees when

I sought too hard for the beauty before my eyes.

Scrapes from not knowing better.

Yet how could I have watched and seen

so close . . . so much if I had been adultly careful?

The chance of being unaware was worth it.

Sometimes we are handicapped

by knowing better.