At Twenty-five (For Janis Ian)

At Twenty-five (For Janis Ian)

Listening to Janis Ian’s AT SEVENTEEN, I wondered  

where the girl in the song would be and how she would feel just a few years later?  So, I wrote…

AT TWENTY-FIVE (Dedicated to Janis Ian)

It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today…
the popular girls put out…for free…at seventeen…
but never me!

Their Friday night’s backseats in cars…
and getting sloshed in sleazy bars…
that was them! Not me! At seventeen.

At seventeen…I didn’t know…
I had a lot of time to grow…
From ugly girl to “Oh, HELLO!”…
…at twenty-five!

My face is clear.  My body taut…
I married up…he’s yummy hot.
I studied hard for my degree.
You’d never…ever…recognize…me…
AT TWENTY-FIVE.

At twenty-five…the high school hotties…
curse their “had two baby” bodies…
and what they didn’t know…at seventeen!
The truth you can’t foresee…at seventeen!

It was long ago and far away…
the world was younger than today…
the popular girls put out for free…
at seventeen…but never me!

Their Friday night’s backseats in cars…
and getting sloshed in sleazy bars…
That was them! Not me! At seventeen.

They thought that they would win the game…
of life…but isn’t…that insane? Now they’re
getting first…gray…hairs…at twenty-five!
They married young…to just divorce…
prenuptials that steered the course…
of their once privileged lives…at seventeen!

The dull surprise of payment due…
they wonder if their lives are through…
while awaiting section 8…at twenty-five.
The truth they didn’t see at seventeen.
No longer beauty queens…not being mean!

I may have lacked in social graces…
but I wasn’t rode in sexual races…
you might want to hide their long shoelaces…
at twenty-five.  Yes, twenty-five!

It was long ago and far away…
the world was younger than today…
the popular girls put out for free…
at seventeen…but never me!

Their Friday night’s backseats in cars…
and getting sloshed in sleazy bars…
That was them! Not me! At seventeen.

I didn’t get a valentine.  
But, I’m not in rehab for drugs or wine.  
They lost their souls…at seventeen.
Selling their food stamps…now…at twenty-five.
Feeling barely alive…now…at twenty-five!

The brown-eye girl is now a high priced lawyer.
No hand-me-down – you’d never know her!
She kept to herself…back at seventeen.
We’re living our best lives…at twenty-five!  

The small town eyes still gaze at me..
but who i was is not who they see…at twenty-five.
Not an ugly duckling girl of seventeen.
I didn’t know the truth…at seventeen.

It was long ago and far away…
the world was younger than today…
the popular girls put out for free…
at seventeen…but never me!

Their Friday night’s backseats in cars…
and getting sloshed in sleazy bars…
That was them! Not me! At seventeen.

They lost the love they sought to gain…
They did so many guys…it’s plain…
lives went swirling down the drain…at seventeen.

The world was younger than today…
Solitaire I learned to play…at seventeen!
I invented lovers on the phone…
because I felt so all alone…
but they couldn’t knock me up…at 17!

May this be a lesson to…
those who think their lives are through…
at just seventeen.  It hasn’t even started…
at seventeen.  Don’t throw away it all…
at seventeen!!!  Wait to feel alive…
at twenty-five…

(Faintly fading out…)
It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today
The popular girls put out for free…at seventeen…
but never me!

Their Friday night’s backseats in cars…
and getting sloshed in sleazy bars…
That was them! Not me! At seventeen.
I learned the truth again…at twenty-five.