Graduation Isn't Gradual

Music: If.
By Peter Rudenko. Performed by Peter Rudenko at the Free Music Archive
under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Graduation isn't gradual.
In fact it's quite abrupt, a sudden shock.
It's more like rushing towards a waterfall:
One moment we're afloat, and then we're not.

Sure, we see it coming up ahead,
The water roaring into the abyss.
We make a joke and look away instead,
Unable to acknowledge what this is.

And then the moment's past, and we're the same.
Everyone is smiling, sunny bright.
Someone kisses us and calls our name,
And then we think, well, everything's all right.

But life is like that: things get smashed inside,
And we don't even know it. Foolishly,
We think we're in it only for the ride,
Yet mourn for all that can no longer be.