Growing up poems explore the movement from familiar dependence toward new responsibilities and ways of seeing. A first decision made alone, a changed friendship, or a moment when an adult seems newly understandable can mark that transition.
Read the examples below and notice how the speaker measures change. Is growing up recognized while it happens or only in retrospect? A small scene can reveal the mixed feeling of gaining freedom while leaving an earlier version of life behind.
Days of melancholy light
Hanging there,
A closet
Tightly shut,
With edges
Bleeding through
Into the day
Turn off the light honey
Says my sweetheart
As we lay together
In the dark
The closet light
Bleeding as it always does
Around its edges
Bleeding into the space
Between us
Bleeding into my dreams
Of all held dear
Bleeding from infancy
Adolescence and adulthood
Into now from then
As sure as rain is rain
And snow is snow
Turn off the light dear
It’ll be dawn soon
Just rest
And let your troubles be
At peace
At last
Without you
To hold them tight
(10/5/26)
You keep going for me,
I keep going for you,
It’s in both of our nature,
We keep going for the one who gets us.
It’s a miracle we both made it,
After everything we’ve been through,
Wars have been fought silently,
Too afraid of what they would say.
It’s a miracle we found each other,
You showed up at the perfect time,
Because I’ve never needed you more,
Than I need you right now.
I’d like to think you need me too,
Maybe not as much as I need you,
But the thought that someone needs me,
Is what keeps me going.
It’s a miracle that you love me,
Because not many people can,
And I just want you to know,
That I love you too.
I hope you know that you saved me,
And you should know you’re my hero,
Because you are living proof,
Proof that I can survive the hard times.
You are so much more than a teacher,
So much more than a friend,
And you are so much more than you think you are,
You are my miracle.
As they say, Socialism is great
Until you run out of other people’s money.
It’s the economic model
Of small children, happily oblivious
Where all the good things in life come from.
Meanwhile their parents toil all day long,
That is if they work at all,
Knowing exactly where the good things
Come from; them, but gladly
To support the good the children bring.
Socialists on the other hand think
It’s the government’s job to give US all
Whatever we need to live a dignified life,
Disregarding for the moment
We lose our dignity when we accept handouts.
But if we’re going to have magical thinking
Then let’s go big
And imagine our dignity has nothing to do
With how we live, the decisions we make
And who we take from.
This is the Age of Abundance after all
The age of having our cake and eating it too,
Again and again without depletion.
But where does all this goodness come from
If not others, the responsible parents in the room.
(10/5/26)
Late night conversations
Leading me to long nights with
Torn up journal pages and
Back to back convos in my head
If I knew the respect I deserve
Was never there, why didn’t I leave?
Why did I have so much faith in you?
Am I too desperate trying to love again?
Sometimes I question if I was too fast
Or wasn’t moving fast enough for you?
We were on two different timings and
We could never agree on the zone we’re in
I remember the weekly arguments
The tired look on my face
With the lowest grades I’ve ever had
Everything felt delicate and I didn’t want to break it
When I think about you,
I get scared trying to love again
Sometimes I wish you’d get punished
But there’s no point to it.
At the end of the day
You still carry part of my heart
And I’m trying to peace it back together
So I can give it to the right person
No more waiting for the next one
I don’t expect my feelings to disappear
But I hope one day I can look back
And thank you for helping me know
What I want next for me.
Maybe I was stupid for loving you
But I won’t for the right one.
We met in nineteen-seventy-seven.
I was eighteen, you were twice eleven.
I was a young man, out on my own.
You made me feel much less alone.
Roommates back in Hollywood,
we walked on stars. You understood...
what it meant to be different,
Eighty dollars apiece was our rent.
Songs were our soul's connection.
You had such a record collection.
Though you were from another mother,
you, my friend, were my true brother.
We had to shuffle on our feet,
or take a bus to get down the street
to coffee shops or burrito stands,
talking about our favorite bands.
We took odd jobs, got caught in rain,
and shared the experience of life's pain,
but, for you, my friend, it was too much.
Alcohol, and other drugs and such,
slowly, but surely, dragged you down
in the decades since Hollywood town.
We met in nineteen-seventy-seven,
I hope to see you once more in heaven.
It's the end of an Era,
Terra formed Egos tare away
Terrified by the part they play,
Clarified minds think a new way,
Staying focused on today,
Saying their affirmations,
Saving the people of their nation,
Slaying the beast within,
Never to be a slave again,
Behaving like we love to be alive,
Thriving together like a hive,
No longer fighting to survive,
Information arrives right on time,
Priming the filter first,
So you thirst for more,
A need to explore,
Discovering doors,
You've never seen before,
The corridors are the same,
Pain, Shame and Guilt,
Are the walls we all built,
Tilted perceptions align,
Combined with a Divine design,
Intertwining to refine,
Defining each experience,
A variance in the equation,
Each of us a data station,
A vibration of the source,
And it's redirecting the course.
Through my past, it was kind of strange...
I once never felt a need for change...
To weather the strain, of memories stained
To sever the ties that blind
To grasp the rope, a beacon of hope
To forever free your mind
A fog has been cleared, a beacon appeared
A much better friend to find
A new path emerged, from the pain you purged
An enemy left behind
Safe is the feeling of secure and happy, no worries, and able to grow without fear and harm and persecution.
Safe is when you are in an environment that is secure, that has all of your best interest at heart, a feeling like being in the womb of your mother, warm and secure.
Safe we want, we need, we love, we want to live and breathe safely each day of our life.
Safe should always be the most important way we live our life, it should be universal and it should be for all.
Living in an unsafe environment causing harm, harm to oneself, harm to the environment and leaves us unable to grow and learn just to mention a few of the negative effects that living in an unsafe environment can cause us harm.
Safe we want, we need, we love, we want to live and breathe safely each day of our life.
God’s heaven we are told is safe, it has many rooms for us to live, it is a place of love and joy, a place like the garden of even, we look to God to remove all of the unsafe from our life.
Lifting prayers to God, today and always.
“Here!” “Come see my plane fly; my train choo choo!!”
“Look at that funny cow mommy, ‘moo, moo’!”
“Faster, daddy, faster!” “Again, yes, wee!!!”
“One more story mommy, p,p,p,please!”
“I’m going out.” - “Where?” Mum asks. - ”Hmmpphhh… Just out!”
“Where’s my shoes? Why isn’t this washed?”, I shout.
“Board games night, really?" "I have friends y’know…”
“My life is over… he dumped me”, I groan.
“Oh, woe is me, my life is half over!”
I expected a house, kids, ring, rover…
the dream job; not dole and redundancy!!!
“I’ve a bunch of cats now living with me!”
“Phew!” “Two moments on the sofa, free from…
them!!” “Yes, the kids rule the roost, all day long!”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Though, I could do with some more time away.”
“A new lease of life!” “Barely past forty!”
The golf, wine, cheese… “Grandkids, go be naughty!”
“What a time it is, hey, to be alive!”
“Old, ha!” “I’ve learnt to just live and let jive!”
09.27.2026
(For the Five Perspectives Contest - each stanza representing different ages: 5, 15, 30, 50, 70.)
I Once Was….
I once was young
Fresh out of school
The future lay at my feet
And everything was cool.
My face was void of wrinkles
My body flexible and strong
There was nothing I couldn't do
And my dreams inspired my song.
I never thought of aging
Of growing old
Forced to give up activities
Because my limits were sold.
I looked at older people
And felt a sense of relief
I had years to enjoy my life
Was my misconceptive belief.
Day after day
Year after year
I took life for granted
And lived without fear.
One day I woke up
And I looked in the mirror
I saw time had dwindled down
And my age was suddenly clear.
I was no longer young
With years stretched before
me
My body stiff like the tin man
My bladder the size of a pea.
My memory has faltered
Simple things playing hide and seek
And I faced the fact
That time had sprung a leak.
I once was young
And ready to take on the world
But time somehow got away from me
Like a newspaper age curled.
Dear Self,
I left you open to attack
I see you now, standing in
The places
Where I should have covered
You,
Where I should have said no
Sooner,
Where I should have walked
Away faster
You were lax when the
World was sharp,
Open when the moment
Demanded armor,
Trusting when caution
Would've saved you.
And I let you face storms
I should've stood in front of.
I didn't protect you the way
You deserved.
I didn't guard your tenderness,
Your hope,
Your quiet belief that people
Mean what they say.
But I hear now.
I'm learning your personal space
Your limits
Your sacred spaces.
I won't forget you again
I won't leave you exposed.
I won't let the world take
More
Than you can bear.
You are mine to
Keep safe. And I'm finally
Ready to do it.
May your life hold memories as treasures compiled.
I hope each day favors your smile with cause to show.
Remember, though grown, you remain my darling child.
Light will reconcile any darkness for you, dear child.
At times, troubles will rumble until firmly compiled.
Solutions as seeds will grow until they fully show.
Life is not a looped 'happy ending' show.
Be brave, strengthen faith and embrace joy, child.
A good life depends on beliefs compiled.
When beliefs are faith compiled, joy will show, sweet child.
Is our true love was going anywhere?
After traditional local fun fair
Nothing does compare, with the teasing scare
Where we share, our mature teen age affair
Passing written notes, from pens we borrow
Wonder about future, unknown horror
Sunny blue skies? After we say goodbye?
Studying college courses are new try
Meeting new friends, saying, he’s a nice guy
Semester we wander getting credit
Attend class confessing "should have read it"
Or the other excuse, “I don’t get it”
Compass directs one to the campus bar
Healing wounds from the bloody mark grade scar
Is our true love was going anywhere?
After traditional local fun fair
Nothing does compare, with the teasing scare
Where we share, our mature teen age affair
Passing written notes, from pens we borrow
Wonder about future, unknown horror
Sunny blue skies? After we say goodbye?
Studying college courses are new try
Meeting new friends, saying, he’s a nice guy
Semester we wander getting credit
Attend class confessing "should have read it"
Or the other excuse, “I don’t get it”
Compass directs one to the campus bar
Healing wounds from the bloody mark grade scar
And making out with a long neck lone star
Growing Up Categories
Definition | What is Growing Up in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.