People say,
But, is that what they really mean?
Or, do they mean
People change?
Sometimes
I wonder if people really even
Want to change,
Or notice they’re changing.
Sometimes, if they just look back,
They see they’ve changed and
Long for their old self.
“Remember that! That was a long time ago-those were good times!”
Why then, must we let
Those memories be limited
To the past?
If, a time ago,
A person was happy and outgoing,
Adventurous or bold,
Why, must time,
“Take its toll?”
Why do passing years mean
More laugh lines-yet, less laughter?
Why do we feel the sense of
An invisible barrier
Between
What we have now,
And what we had then?
“Oh, I could never be like that-I’m not as young as I used to be.”
Be gone that expression!
One is only as old
As his or her inner child!
Besides,
Would it not be
Much easier to embark on
A journey
Once before traveled
Than one all anew?
“This is a new
Road of life,”
That we’re supposedly on now.
Whoever said
To travel the same road repeatedly
Is but a waste of time and effort-
Who’s to say
It wasn’t the right road all along?
Sometimes,
I look around
And wonder
Just why every else
Has veered off on other paths,
Leaving me here in childish joy
All alone.
Am I not mature?
Yes, I am most definitely-
Mature enough to exercise
My rights to an inner child.
An inner child who takes joy in simple things,
And laughs in the face
Of changing time.
Age 15