By Abi Godden

Why is it that teenagers come alive at night?
is it that the darkness
serves as a blanket,
an excuse,
for us to misbehave?

Personalities change under the protection of dusk.
we can blame our actions
on the fact that we had a bit to drink;
we had partied all night,
no one could remember the next morning.

We look to the sky
and ask the stars to hide their fires.
These desires are for us only;
for the moon and the celestial bodies
to witness, and later, regret when they retire into the light of the next day.

Does the sun rejoice
In the way our skin shines in her glow?
Our skin later, in the years to come,
will hold the map of our experiences.
The valleys of laughter
and cracks of a smile
Will be sculpted into our faces,
Donatello.

We chip out these lines as we dance into the night,
As we grimace at our drinks,
and spin with our friends, comets.

But right now, we are young.
So let us kiss
and dance
and laugh
and run
and crash
and burn
because like stars
our youth will blink out too soon.

–

Abi Godden is a student from Hampshire currently studying for her A-levels. She enjoys painting, composing in her spare time, and reading.