Growing Up!

Growing up!

By: Joe Attanasio

I have been thinking of the past

I have lived long the thoughts are vast

I was always in a lot of trouble

Exposed to life, not safe in a bubble

I was the oldest one of eight

My life a most unsteady gait

I would often stumble and fall

I couldn’t get much right at all

I failed the sixth grade

I should have studied but I played

I ran away from home

On my own and all alone

My parents took me back

Without giving me much flack

They showed me love

Gave me a hug

I learned by watching them

From faith in God their strength did stem

I knew I couldn’t be all bad

For I loved them both with all I had

I yearned to be on my own

I wanted badly to be grown

The reason I ran away

Was so I could have my way

I never liked to follow a rule

That’s why I dropped out of school

I joined the service at seventeen

I badly needed a new scene

The army makes you hard

Who you were they disregard

Make you into a man

Teach you, so you can stand

I soon went off to war

Eighteen and saw much gore

It makes you grow up fast

The violence is unsurpassed

I came back home a new man

I came back with a game plan

I was confident and strong

I knew no matter what, I could get along

I joined the “hippe” movement

I wanted to make an improvement

Get the whole world to see

Peace and happiness could be

I lived with strangers who really cared

Their hearts and dreams they bared

This experience taught me much

How to feel and how to touch

Now as I write my poems

My early roots take me home

From the troubled boy I was

To a man who cares, just because!