At 16

At 16 you learn

How quickly time fleets

At 16 you realize 

How fast hours go by in a week

At 16 you see 

How precious life can be

At 16 you know 

To cherish every Christmas tree

At 16 you hear

You must know your path in life

At 16 you feel

New sadness that cuts your soul like a knife

At 16 you’re taught

How to analyze the Odyssey

But at 16 you lack 

The knowledge of knowing when to leave

At 16 you and your parents 

Start to get in fights

At 16 you wrongly feel

That you are always right

At 16 you notice

All your friends start pairing up 

At 16 you’re scared

You’ll never catch up

At 16 you never

Have time to spend with family 

At 16 your burdened

With homework until 3 

At 16 you look

Different and now very ugly 

At 16 men notice you

And cry out things smugly 

At 16 it’s instilled

That if you fail SATS you also fail at life

At 16 you feel

Like you can never do anything right

At 16 you crush

Your once large dreams to the ones you can touch

At 16 you may feel

That you will never be enough 

At 16 you’re forced

To grow up and act tough

At 16 you sense 

You can’t be your parents little girl

At 16 you wish

You could go back to the land of dollies and ballerina twirls

At 16 you are told

To be a certain way

At 16 you miss 

Movie nights and riding Santa’s sleigh

At 16 you start to notice 

How many calories there are in your fries

At 16 you see yourself

From the perspective of a guy

At 16 you wonder

If you can just slow down time

At 16 you learn 

That time is what everyone wants to find

At 16 you must realize how much life that you have left

So, at 16 you mustn’t take the moments for granted that make time the greatest theft