U and I Between the Walls

(after Kendrick Lamar)

Ladies and gentlemen, or are you boys and girls?
Babies still, maybe, perhaps I’m absurd
For talking to you straight, a twinkle and a wink,
And still, you seem bigger than a big girl thinks
She is — “Miss?” My name, my honorific,
Funny thing is, I’m the same just more prolific
In years — 30 of them to be specific,
Though the years changed little, still self-criti-
cal, we all are vulnerable, put up walls
To quell ourselves, colour-coordinated 
Pretty perfect, or else cross it out,
Wouldn’t want to fail, wouldn’t want to doubt,
U and I, eight pairs of wide eyes,
319, where the blind lead the blind
These talking Walls — no, not that kind! —
This our Neverland, your youth (and mine).

Boys and girls, young men and women, 
You’ll leave these walls, and I’ll stay in’em,
You’ll achieve, you’ll fall and I’ll stay the same
Same halls, same walls, same me, new grade,
Again, the decision on how much to reveal —
God, I’m kidding! I couldn’t conceal
The grown girl held in extended adolescence,
Not your friend, but myself in your presence, 
Been in school too long
Looking at you from the inside out
You sing the same old song
In a language that is half my age
I see the vision, vivid depiction, 
Yours, a new world, mine, indecision
But I’ll still listen, adore your ideas
Here, in these walls, with the last of my peers.