twenty-seven

god bless these twenty-somethings

Chungking Express [1994], Wong Kar-Wai

At twenty-seven
You will have
Attended funerals
For two people
You went to high school with.

Your years
Will be measured
In how many
Weddings
And baby showers
You attended.

And social media
Will become
A scrapbook
Documenting
Engagements
And
First steps
And 
First words
And
Final words, too.

At twenty-seven
You will hold
Your childhood friend’s 
First baby
And watch
Another childhood friend
Say, “I do.”

And
On some days
You might wonder why
It hasn’t happened for you
But
On most days
You will be so happy
To still have
The luxury
Of selfishness.

At twenty-seven
You will
Talk to cute boys
And stop
When you grow
Bored
Or
Tired
Or
Annoyed.

You will
Go out to bars
With nothing but
Your cellphone
And ID
And your favorite lipgloss.

And you will
Let a man
Or two
Or maybe three
Buy you a drink.

Give them all
A fake name
A fake number
And never see them again.

You will
Come to realize
That sometimes
A season
Lasts only for 
A night.

You will
Indulge yourself
In the pleasures of
Conversations
With strangers
Who never become 
Anything more.
And kisses
That lead nowhere
But the storybook
Filled with memories
To one day share with
Your children
Or grandchildren
Whenever it is
You choose to have some.

At twenty-seven
You will fall
In love
And out of love
And in love again.
And you will
Always be okay
Because...

At twenty-seven
You have learned
That your great love
Has always been
The one
Looking back at you
In club bathroom mirrors.

And
You’ll understand
Now more than ever
That life
Is fleeting
And youth
Is impermanent.

And so
You must
Live now
For you
Will never be younger
Than you are today.

And
You must
Live immediately
For 
The future
Lies in uncertainty.

And
You cannot afford
To waste this life
Living
For anyone
But yourself.