"Stay sweet!" the yearbook signers said,
Over and over again.
"Stay sweet!"
As if they knew by some prophetic utterance
That the coming world would harden
Us into the critics, teachers, naysayers,
That we knew as "adults."

Stay sweet, my love, stay sweet,
For I have been deficient many years,
Behind the eight ball and the recommended daily allowance
Of sugar,
And I need you
To stay sweet.

-jenn