You have not yet seen leaves swiftly fall to the ground,
traveling from the abstract to the concrete, the way air
and beliefs solidify while the ice in your soul melts.
Sundays will pass like the contacts in your address book,
and with them, the sorrow, the naivete. Unlearn your
limits. You should know that sometimes your mother is right,
but not always. You have not yet seen the corruption authored
by society, but you have not yet instilled your faith in people.
Lisa Zou is sixteen years old. She is a creative writing student at Mesa Community College and a senior at Hamilton High School. Lisa has been published in the Paha Review, the Apprentice Writer, and the Claremont Review. She is a fan of feminist literature and authors Joyce Carol Oates and Amy Tan.