Love Poem: What Youth Doesn'T Know Or Care To Know
Ahellas Alixopulos Avatar
Written by: Ahellas Alixopulos

What Youth Doesn'T Know Or Care To Know

Oh, how we keep
adjusting
the level of our
expectations
as, age, sickness, and
loss of dreams
take their toll.
You ask what it matters,
if you do not graduate.
Truth to tell, little,
in these times,
in this society.
School is only one 
small measure of success,
imperfect at that.

But for a mother,
whose life has been 
a weary negotiation
between poverty
and expectations,
the apparent success 
of her children
becomes the last measure
of a life's value.

You, in your determination
not to have anyone
judge the value 
of your young life
until you hit your
high expectations
refuse to give
one small gift
to one that has lost hers