Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "Pennycandystore" has profound meaning to me. It is about a boy, my age, in the transition between boyhood and manhood. In this poem, the growing boy is appreciating candy less, and the opposite sex more. Around him, the season is turning to fall, metaphoric for his personal changes. The seasonal cycle is symbolic of the stages of life. This boy is now shedding his leaves of youth, getting closer to the winter, death. As the leaves fall from the trees, they cry "Too soon! Too soon!" I relate this poem directly to my life, as I am growing up, eager to get older. Elders always tell me to savor youth while I can, yet I never have understood why. "Pennycandystore" makes me realize that "Youth is wasted on the young." Why can't my peers and I appreciate our lack of full responsibility when it is not...