Act Your Age



If you are quintessential, I'm betting on the hunch,
compared to a banana you're just one of the bunch.

Some people say "Act your age." What do they really mean?
I've never been here before, this is a brand-new scene.

Children get the same advice, they must be in dismay.
Should they know how to behave the first time on their way?

When conduct is lemming-like, everyone in lock-step;
there's no room to create or uniquely be adept.

Should we wish to forge new paths, the "unheard-of" invent,
from the norm we deviate, restless and discontent.

Whether young or up-in-years you have a gyroscope
to keep balanced direction, and in life's spin to cope.

If you simply typify all others in your class
you remain in the shadows and blend in with the mass.
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Submitted on February 05, 2010

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
10

Quick analysis:

Scheme AA BB CC XX DD EE FF
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 736
Words 135
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Wallace Dean LaBenne

Professor, therapist, author and poet. more…

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