Zoë

O Zoë, all of sixteen years

How sweet it is to see your fears.

Your first job now, still an adolescent

This time of life the days are pleasant.

Like a coracle, I see you tossed around

Landlubber at sea, nervous at every sound.

But your course is open to any agitation

Not bound like a supertanker's navigation.

New knowledge about your body and mind

Tinted by hormones' evolutionary bind.

Ahead of you, paths and decisions

Many kisses, and love's revisions.

Dear Zoë, my advice is this

Be yourself. Smile. Mistakes record, not miss.

Remember happiness, sadness, the good and fools

With diary, pictures and memory's tools.

Treasure these days - because for many

They're shorter, blunter, cheap as a penny.

Rolling bidis in some dark shed

Or down a mine, and nearly dead.

Zoë, for you, life's just beginning

Despite jealousy, shyness, hurt - it's there for living.

So much to learn; the clock soon chimes

And you'll look back, reminiscing times.