We All Start Off So Young (in the School of Life)

We all start off so young to learn what time will teach
Youth’s years are like sun-sparkles flung to waves that wash the beach
The crucial length of it is like a balance beam
To test and hone the strength and grit of they who dare to dream

Folly goes hand in hand with those who do not heed
The wiser words of ones who stand upon the fallen seed

 They've seen how swift the sprout becomes a full grown tree
How dangerous shadows of doubt without counsel can be

Time is Teacher to all no matter what our age
Eons of seasoned rise and fall hinge to unblemished page
The One who supplies Need does not leave us alone
But grants the courage to proceed into the Great Unknown

Where we all start off young but soon begin to lose
The innocence of childish tongue as time fulfills its dues
And greenness starts to earn through blunder and faux pas
Gold wisdom so painful to learn but worth its humble awe

Ah, fear would be a noose without faith to defend
Nobody can remain footloose and fancy-free, my friend
Only a fool is crass and tries to dodge Love’s rod
Where we are all part of a class that will answer to God

Then, though lessons are long and arduous to learn
It is the fight that makes us strong and authors good return
Therefore, do not despair; the School-Master is kind
Remember, we all started where we left our youth behind


© Janet Martin

 See then that you walk ^[a]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,

  ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Eph.5:15-16