The Stranger Within Poem by Eleanor L. Cain

Sweet pitiful youth! Why deceive this way?
You clothe with pitfalls, we carry along the way.

You look toward your elders and say to yourself,
"Why are they changing, in spite of themselves?"

You spring forth, run and romp in the sun,
Ignoring the rumble and thunder to come.

The decades go by and one day you glimpse,
The stranger inside you and laugh at its strength.

The stranger is gaining your will won't endure,
At last youth must give way, to the stranger that is you.