Golden Days

Hopscotch in the morning on the sun-baked grass:

One foot, two feet, three.

I smile my toothy smile,

I'm giggling with glee.

I stumble and slip.

Fall onto my knees.

But I get back up

Because the game isn't over.

I'm trudging across a grey landscape.

Putting one foot in front of the other, trying not to stop.

I stumble and slip

And I drop.

And I stay there.

Because there is no reason for me to get up.

I spread out my arms

As if I can fly.

The whole world is mine

And so is the sky.

It belongs to me,

Though little am I.

I see it all, I want it all, I feel it all

I hold myself together.

I put my head down.

My universe consists of

This miserable town.

I feel weak and small

Every time someone frowns.

I'm blind, I'm hopeless, I'm numb.

With every beat of my heart,

Joy courses through me.

I'm breathing in the love.

Beauty is all I see.

Every time I awake, I'm born once again

And every time that I'm born, I'm born free.

I'm wrapped up in the world's warm embrace.

With every passing moment,

Sorrow floods though my veins.

I'm choking, drowning, sinking,

Weighted by the pain.

I'm locked against my will

By a heavy set of chains.

The world is my cold living grave.

I close my eyes

Until my mind drifts away.

I think long and hard

Of what I'll be like someday.

When the whole world will hear what I've got to say

And I can hardly wait.

I never forget, I'll always remember

The days in my life that were gold.

When the future looked like an adventure

That held the beautiful untold.

I was young and wild and free.

Now I'm tired and hurting and old.

Please take me back to those golden days.