Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You’re on your own.

And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets.

Look ‘em over with care. About some you will say,

“I don’t choose to go there.”

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down.

In that case, of course,

you’ll head straight out of town.

It’s opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen...

...don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along.

You’ll start happening too.

OH!

THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights!

You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.

You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t. Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch.

And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.

A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!

Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?

How much can you lose? How much can you win?

and IF you go in, should you turn left or right...

or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind?

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race

down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow,

or waiting around for a Yes or No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.