Not Really Young Poem by Paul Reed

I was young, but not really young

I was always old in my mind

Now, looking back, it's too late

To retrace my steps, for the past to unwind;



For you can't pretend to be young

When the boat has already sailed

And in the examination of life

I seem to have totally failed;



I never acted irrationally

Nor impulsively without pre-thought

Every timid action was calculated,

Every battle pre-fought;



How I wish I had abandoned caution

Lived to the heartbeat, captured the moment somehow

For all those moments have disappeared

And all I am left with is now.