The Fallen Apple

When I was a boy
I was determined not
To become my parents
I saw their lives
Their stress
Their mistakes
And being so smug
And self-assured
I just knew
I wouldn’t be like them
I was too smart
I knew that I
Wouldn’t get stuck
In a dead-end 9-5
Or get married
Or buy a house
Or have a kid
And yet
As time has gone on
I look at the time
And I realise
I’ve made
All the same mistakes
They have
If not worse
And I’m right on schedule
And it would be so easy
To blame genetics
Or society
Or lack of free will
But the cold hard truth
Of it is
I’ve simply been my parents
All along