The Real World

I.

Heard it

from the mouths

of cynics and critics

how the real world

will make me a man,

take away my ideals

and force me to learn.

II.

Life they say

is experience,

not knowledge.

“Learning’s not working

Working is learning!”

They talk and talk

of the evils of books,

the faults of schools,

the frailty of art.

III.

Curiosity is wrong

in their ‘experienced’ minds.

just idyll waste

to avoid the reality of life.

IV.

They talk and talk

about the real world.

"It’s all there," they say,

"Why try questioning it?

Why try improving it?"

V.

These cynics and critics

keep talking

while they take their place

on the assembly line,

doing as they're told,

living as they're told.

VI.

All the while, me,

the one who wasted his life in pursuit,

discovers the real world that

those fools kept talking about.

VII.

Now I live it.

Now I know it.

The real world…

It’s a world I know.

It’s a world I live in.

It’s a world I understand.

It’s the world

I’ve always known.