Youth

hitchhiking, encompassing 
no great need to belong 
I can’t stand the frustration,
inhibited by mental restraint,
don’t wait up, I’ll be back late,
the years have been unkind,
I’ve tried to salvage sanity
in the shape of a prescribed reality,
maybe you were undeserving
a bad apple yet to turn those 
around you rotten, 
or you were simply a ricochet 
caught in the crossfire
of someone else’s desire,
either way you now retire 
to the fact, your youth 
ain’t ever coming back