The Early Years

In kindergarten children knew

About to do what’s right or wrong,

For what you were supposed to do

With each other to get along.

You didn’t take what wasn’t yours,

And didn’t raise your hand to strike

Somebody else and, what is worse,

You didn’t do just what you’d like.

But when it came to growing up

It took you years to learn about

How to pick up a way to drop

What you preferred to do without.

That wasn’t easy—was it though?— 

To unlearn what you had been taught

(And act as though you didn’t know)

Because it took a lot of thought.