LESSONS RECALLED (with photo)

LESSONS RECALLED

Driving past the park
last Friday night,
I couldn’t help but notice
all the fancy cars
stretched out
tricked out,
lined up in a row,
hand-polished to perfection
and almost blinding
in the late-afternoon sun,
on display for all to see –
limos of all shapes and sizes,
would-be princes
and princesses
dressed up
(or down)
to suit their fancy,
cameras flashing,
flowers blooming,
last-minute alterations,
parents beaming.

I wondered to myself
(but certainly should have known),
what occasion on a Friday night
could possibly bring out
such a huge crowd.
And then I remembered,
(how quickly we can forget)
the time of year,
this night on the town,
what occasion it was –
the Senior Prom,
of course,
and I should have known.

What happened to those days
when we decorated the gym
with pastel streamers
and crepe paper flowers,
when our parents drove us
and dropped us off
and picked us up again
at precisely ten?

And the limos
drive off
one by one,
and the parents wave
and hope for the best,
knowing that there will be
many lessons learned
and that things
aren’t always
as they seem to be
on prom night.

(c) barbara kausteklis 5-18-12

Written for the Friday Fling/
The Friday Fling Has a Fable-ous Time At The Prom
(this week featuring a fable/poetic story with "moral" format).

http://www.friendburst.com/blog/88898/friday-fling-fable-ous-time-prom/

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