"Coming of Age" ... a poem exploring the dissolution of the apron strings and stepping into adulthood. Surely describing a battle of sorts.

Contingence upon her gnashing teeth
unveils itself with shame.
Floundering within a wombed estate,
I contemplate who's to blame.

A wreath is shed upon the waters,
myself engulfed within;
I pull my eyes to the depths beneath
where yet I have not been.

Searching forever, no instant found,
that in me courage lay;
to wretch my soul from its securing
to keep the foe at bay.

Through pain, relief is dearly bought,
shields me from the rain.
Disgorge my heart and in its place,
strength to endure the sane.

Ransom my soul for toll unworthy,
I give you forever, me.
Box, put me in and mark me not,
for keep I must be free.

Replenish me with tender love
as wisdom will acknowledge.
Unknown potential, but comes it slow,
a long untended hedge.

Discard the milk of platitude,
ferment my nurtured fruit;
from flowers have come a wine of age,
voice and song of the mute.

Relinquish me, metamorphosis,
deliquesced are my fears.
Momentous reveille has thundered,
Beelzibub, she hears!

Emergence! A new life created,
a seed of dominance;
a tree that flowers, fruits and seeds,
Beelzibub, advance!

Why do you come, satanic one?
Is't punishment we need?
Oh powerful love that you possess,
is hate that it should breed?

"Defend myself, Mother Love needs not,
existance is my fame;
protection warranting love that lasts,
for this, can me, you blame?

So demolish all your decadence,
revive yourself anew;
One's reformation now completed,
to thine ownself be true."

Poem by Carolyn Hietala
(copyright protected and cannot be reproduced without my written permission)

Sometimes our youth have an enormous amount of difficulty reaching maturity...... gracefully if you will. "Aging gracefully" is a term usually associated with growing old but I feel it should apply to all ages. The journey to death begins at birth so let us not waste precious time battling with imagined foes. Patience.