Lessons

You have to learn,
While you’re young and able
To bounce back from the wounds
And the impacts
And forget again
Because you still have time
To forget everything
And nothing at all.
You have to learn that this is real
And the world they’ve made for you
Is not.
 
You will learn that kissing
Can be meaningless –
You will kiss people
Whose names you don’t know
And whom you care nothing for.
Your first time will be messy,
Unromantic, gritty, painful,
Probably drunk
And you will know the fear,
However irrational,
Of things not working right.
You will learn that there is little
Difference between a man’s lips
And a woman’s;
You will learn that experimentation
Is both enjoyable
And destructive in its own way.
You will learn how it is
To fall in love,
Break your heart,
And later learn it was not love at all
But childish lust
And infatuation.
You will learn that sometimes
You have to learn to love
What you can cope with
And reject that which you can’t.
And most of all, you will learn
That real love is in the future
And infatuation is always
Good enough for now.