Turning Twenty-Two

Turning Twenty-Two

Yeah, I turned twenty- two today

And I didn't know what to do or to say

How to act or how to feel, if this was it, if it was real?

If I should rejoice or just lament about the money that he'd spent.

I sat with my father and that made him glad

For so very long now he's been so sad

And everything seems to just make him mad

But me and my birthdays and poetry.

There was a cake, there was a dish

I blew out the candles and made a wish

I wished for a life that was happy and free

And that things could go back to the way they used to be.

When I was a boy and life was a game

Of long summer days and walks in the rain

Of puppies and kittens and laughing till crying

And there was no such thing as divorce or dying.

I remember those days and they make me smile

As I visit my childhood and forget for a while

How different life is now and how lonely it seems

When compared to the world that I live in, in dreams.

I turned the Big 2-2, twenty two today
 And my friends all teased  me and called me "Old Man" and such

And the presents were nice

And I admit I was touched.

But for some reason I felt old

And not young anymore

And I felt I had walked through a no-going-back-door

And that I had set foot on a far away shore............

As I looked at my father,
 Being brave, though bereft

I looked into his sad eyes..........

And I saw myself.

©by Voo

For Daniel