there are a lot of contrasts here, @lymepoet, that you don't usually see in poems about youth and coming to age - maybe because the transitory years that are the teenage ones so rarely find themselves being waxed for poetry.

because of the most forefront contrast, that of the movement towards responsibility and the lack of understanding until that responsibility hits, this is a difficult poem to unpack.

the tone of the narrator is almost entirely as if from a trusted and wiser source, a parent or teacher, and lends the poem a human feel even as it deals in abstract relationships.

definitely a fun read on a subject that I don't see often covered in poetry, thank you for sharing, @lymepoet.