Attaining Womanhood

The mysteries of womanhood revealed!
This shining prospect kept me, at fifteen,
suspended in a state somewhere between
anticipation, breathless and intense,
and shaking fear. I hated such suspense,
and yet a dreamy childhood still appealed.

No wondrous claims were ever really made -
just honeyed hints that hovered everywhere
a fifteen year old girl might be – to stare
at models in DJ's, or at a dance
where boys of eighteen wouldn't cast a glance
at girls of fifteen still on lemonade.

Experimenting led from heels to totter on
and swirls of petticoats I'd twitch or twirl,
to lips and nails of coral pink – a girl
just had to get out there and learn; explore
a woman's ways – alternately to soar
with joy, or sink to depths, all woebegone.

And then, when sixteen, seventeen had passed;
I knew the crown of womanhood was near;
all life was joy – the way ahead was clear.
I'd waved goodbye to childhood, faced each new
experience with zest … then I met you,
and all the mysteries were solved at last!