You’re Not As Old as You Think You Are – Written Saturday 17th October 1998 (Aged 23)

You’re Not As Old as You Think You Are

you’re not as old as you think you are
the children in make up
the young children smoking a cigarette
the young girl in a short skirt
they are not as old as they think they are
lipstick smiles and cheap earrings
giggle on the top deck of the bus
innocence is a dreamer’s thing
swearing and a strut
you’re not as old as you’d like to be
those children are trying too hard
encouraged by so much imagery
appealed to from a stone heart
by a corporate society
and when i see children,
trying to act older than they are
with products they have been sold
it seems like the worst parody
of growing up and being old
these days it seems that if you’re pushed
to grow up as quick as you can
you’re not as old as you want to be
you’re not as old as you think you are

James Garratt – Saturday 17th October 1998



More poems at
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More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/


More poems from 1998 here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-1998/