How to succeed at failing

When you’re fifteen, 

you think you know how the world works.

You know it all.

Know what’s best.

Your mindset is magic,

The future assured,

all yours.

You know how the world works

Know how to fix it

Your place in it.

But you don’t understand,

The politics,

The ethics,

The shady dealings,

the compromises,

To get stuff done,

the bargaining, 

The secret shaking of hands,

The making of secret plans.

The club you might not be in,

Yeah, when you’re 15.

You think you know everything

But, the world’s just waiting, 

To eat you for breakfast,

Make you toast.

To hunt you down,

Bend your will to its way.

And you watch your knowledge

Slip away,

All that certainty

Now a shade of grey.

You’ll wind up getting hurt.

Because you ‘know’ how it works.

They didn’t tell you the truth

About when someone steps on your toes.

No , you’re way to smart for that.

When you’re 15.