Not as Planned


Not as Planned

Growing up is never planned
Your friends are those who live at hand
Next door, round the corner, at street’s end,
The same-aged child of your mother’s friend.

As you get older, and change your schools
You begin to play by different rules,
Befriending those who think like you
You shed most later, hold close a few.

Beliefs absorbed from Mum and Dad,
Start sprouting leaks, aren't ironclad,
The words of teachers, fresh and new,
Re-define what makes you, you.

Forks in the road, the choices made,
Good and bad roles you have played,
All polish smooth, like carborundum,
Reveal the person you'll become.

You hear it said, ‘to get to there
I would not have started quite from here’;
It takes some time to understand,
But growing up is never planned.

© Copyright 2025. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

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