Cruel World

We were thrown together  
Working a temp job we were both overqualified for.
He, a recent college grad soon to begin a master's
And me, who had gotten my bachelor's
somewhere around the time his parents were in kindergarten.
 
We talked about everything
Movies
Music
Politics
What the future of the world might hold
What America would be like in fifty years
Even ten.
 
It turned depressing from there.
 
Cruel World, young guy said, shaking his head
 
How long have you known that? I ask
 
For a while now, he says
 
When I was your age,
I hear myself saying
I was still able to pretend it wasn't
I distracted myself  
in every way possible
and when I finally was no longer able to pretend,
the volume of the news became a shout.
The tigers I tried to pretend was far away
bared their fangs right at me.
 
As I was driving home, I found myself wondering
who was luckier.
 
Him knowing so early?
 
Or me, in denial so late?