1107 - Eighteen! Poem by John Knight

Eighteen - Old enough to know
Young enough to go go go!
Young ladies of eighteen are
Very sophisticated.
They know what they want to be
They know what they want to do
They have their feet on the ground
And their heads in Search Mode.
Calculating - Analysing
Searching for life and for love!

Young genlemen of eighteen are....
Here there and everywhere.
They have no idea what they.........
Want to be or want to do!
They have their heads in the clouds
And their feet up in the air.
This is why so many of them
End up in University.
Fortunately - for the men
Today - there are also ladies!

For ladies eighteen is an....
Ideal age to leave home and....
Be responsible for....
Money - Hygiene - Nutrition
Relationships and Study.
For men it's like letting them....
Loose in a huge Brewery!
They spend their Annual Grant
In a week - they eat anything
And then they drink everything!

Men of eighteen - out at work
Are not much better - Monday
They have Friday on their mind
For them the weekend is reality!
Ladies of eighteen - at work
Are much more dedicated.
They even manage to save...
Some money for the future.
Developmentwise ladies
At eighteen match men of thirty!

Mother nature is very kind
She not only makes 'eighteens'
Mutually attractive
But also complementary.
Somehow the YIN of the Girls
Complements the YANG of the Boys.
Resulting in harmony.
Not perfect harmony
But the Boys learn form the Girls
The Girls pretend it was vice-versa!

The great compensator is Love
Love overcomes prejudice
Love compensates for gender
Love ignores immaturity.
Girls really want to be loved
So do boys but they act - Macho.
We would all like to live in........
The innocence and expectancy
Of being eighteen for ever.
Sans care - sans responsibility!

Talking of being eighteen
Forever - Is time travel possible?
Well see-sawing is improbable.
Going back to eighteen - back
To eighteen every two years!
However if you could choose
Someone - and both travel back
To eighteen - simultaneously
Anywhere and any era
Who on Earth - would you like to choose?

(John Knight - Colchester - November 2009)