Mayfly

What a gift you are given mayfly

To be born and know for sure that tomorrow you will die

To know you will never have the time to have to realise

How it feels to be sixteen

And have your worth measured

By the width of your thighs

Your word undervalued

Underpaid for your work

Your safety be discussed in case

You endangered it by the length of your skirt

Ireland the music, the grá and the poets

Ireland the country where you succeed but you never show it

See I can lilt like soda

Be wise like Yoda

Stand on the Gen X/Millennial border

Born in Aries moon in Libra

Maybe you get stars but I don't know either

Mostly I think you get what you pay for

In in this way I mean your hard work will pay off

So keep criticisms for pushing yourself forwards

There's no light in four letter words

There's no cycle that ends with good

We've been reliving the cycles we said we never would

Dismantling wrongs with generational rages

Just to lock up different people in different kinds of cages

Stop and watch this spirit burst forth

See there’s no first when there's nothing to play for

There's no ladder to climb when there's no top to aim for

Live with joy, is that not what we came for

Be here now and stop in the effort

To see it all, be it all, get it all done

Before in a flickering instant

The pounding cycle of life has won

© Eavan Brennan