Wisdom from a 16 Year Old

Was going through a few old documents and found this poem I wrote sometime in 1968. Thought it an interesting view, from then looking forward, and from now looking back.

If I were a poet
and I had a pen
I’d explain to all what life is.

I’d tell them ’bout life
and its ups and downs
And the words from my pen would just whiz.

I’d sit in my chair
with a cocky air
And I’d tell them just how they should be

With my powerful age
Of sixteen years
I’d tell them a thing or three

I’d tell them ’bout this
and I’d tell them ’bout that
Such wisdom from me would just spring.

And when I am forty
I’ll sit with my pen
And write “World, I don’t know a damn thing.”

Ken Risley 1968