Can’t follow your own advice, can you?
But if you could, you wouldn’t need
A spell or books or
Castles in the air.
Very well, then —
A second spell
I’ll make for you
For which you cannot fail
To follow through:
A spell for growing up.
First stretch towards the stars;
Drink water and eat well.
Don’t worry if things ache or leak,
It is a growing spell.
Then say goodbye to childish things,
The things you’d wished to have
And leave behind all that you loved
Like lakes and lily pads.
The schedule’s quite important,
To becoming grown I hear,
You’ll have to wake up every day
With an alarm in your ear
Then go straight to work,
And never play
And finally return.
There are few new things,
In a grown up’s life, you’ll learn.
What’s that? You’d like to
opt out? Ha.
Then do what grownups do:
Deal with your mistakes
As you make them;
There’s no magic spell
For you.
Make your choices wisely, well,
and follow —
Follow through.
That’s how to be a grownup
And it’s a hard, hard, thing
To do.