I Found Out Today...

I found out today

That I could not run away

I could not wake up late

Or tell life to wait

I found out today

That I could not go and play

I could not enjoy the sun

Or go have some fun

I found out today

That I had bills to pay

I could not put food on the table

Or buy my kids cable

I found out today

That my mother had passed away

When I slipped and scraped my knee

There was no one to help me

I found out today

That my hair had turned gray

That I had gained twenty pounds

And my smile was a frown

I found out today

That my son made it to Broadway

I haven’t seen him at all

Except in a box 2 by 3 feet tall

I found out today

That I could not remember the day

I could not lift my feet

Or walk down the street

I found out today

That my life had passed away

And I did not have the time

To say a proper goodbye

Explication:

This is a standard rhyming poem I wrote about a man waking up to find that he has grown old and lost the gifts of youth. It fits in with my theme of youth perfectly - the message being the transience of youth.

The tone of the poem is troubled, heavy, and melancholy, to emphasize what time and age has done to this man. The repetition of "I found out today" adds to the dreary and weighed down tone, while also giving the reader a simple structure to follow the old man's thoughts. The repetition of "I found out today" also touches on the shortness of youth, as it seems the old man just woke one day realizing he's old and unloved. The poem has stanzas of 4 lines, with 2 rhyming couplets for every stanza. Each stanza aims to portray a trouble the old man has that in his youth was not present.