Graduate

Left on our knees,
we stumbled a little,
fell into the graduation parties.
The drinking parties afterwards
in darkened basements,
out of the trunks of cars.

We were suddenly pushed,
expelled into the world
we had not signed up for.
The tassels
were switched and all turned 
upside down.

Bills with our names,
summer jobs to 
make our own new
ends meet.
A college we were
promised,
but with a cost.
Shining new education,
and all we had to do was
grasp high enough,
run the farthest.

With stars in our eyes
we ran to the finish line
only to find ourselves shut out.
Only to see 
the future in a 
pinhole way,
looking through the
boxes-with-holes
so as not to be blinded
by the eclipse
of our old lives.

So the bottles built up.
The nights getting shorter,
and the chill setting on.
This, the promise of our new
life drawing nearer
or being retracted?

I couldn't care to tell.
Losing the ties
that had kept myself grounded.
Drifting we all became
astronauts,
but our missions were
getting cancelled.

And REAL LIFE
kept coming
with bills and 
disillusions
and the graduation 
parties seemed too long ago.