They say it is time to decide: If I want to drive or if I want a ride Do I want to swerve or do I climb the steps The world feels huge and busy I am young but not yet adult Old enough yet still unsure Some feet are headed to the beach Some hands are inky, drawing letters My parents have expectant eyes Their embrace reeks of dreams The smiles are kind and waiting I will walk first and perhaps trace the path 1 Notice the shift of language in the poem from the beginning to the end. The complexity in the vocabulary of the last half of the poem shows A. the narrator is hiding a secret. B. the narrator's mood gets jubilant. C. the narrator is getting exhausted. D. the narrator's maturing thoughts.

In just a few lines, the narrator goes from childish thoughts to more mature ones. His/her tone and vocabulary are a representation of that. At the beginning of the poem, the language is more direct, less adorned. By the second half, it sounds more poetic, even. "Their embrace reeks of dreams," for instance, is probably the most beautiful and mature line of the poem. Not only it conveys the narrator's perception of his/her parents' expectations in a lyrical way, but it also shows that the narrator is mature enough to take such expectations into consideration. So much so that he/she says, "I will walk first and perhaps trace the path." Even without much certainty, there is love, consideration, empathy, while at the beginning there seemed to be only fear and doubt.