late nights no longer
with friends or beer
tonight i nurse not a pipe
but a baby
perhaps for hours

to lull us to sleep
people say ‘just yesterday
i was so young’

so sad to think.
24 with
back problems
four crowns (on teeth,
not the kind with diamonds
embedded, perfectly placed
on heads of royalty)

but the rest is more of a joy
than anyone had prepared me
for.