Little One



I'm sorry,
    little one...
I wish you could stay young forever;
        things just seem so much easier....

I'm sorry,
    little one...
for colors won't be as simple;
       different shades, different hues,
       different greens, different blues,
          red-orange and orange-red
             same two colors end up
                different instead...
       and black, brown, yellow, white
    no longer count for just Crayon
       heads...

I'm sorry,
    little one...
for it won't be all fun and games anymore...
no longer will you see a box the same,
    no spaceships or planes,
       soaring through the stars
          and windy winters...
       come back in,
                little one,
it's time for dinner.

I'm sorry,
    little one...
you won't always look up to people;
eventually, you may reach their level,
    sometimes higher,
but still you'll find yourself looking down
    as they had...
many times, you won't mean to,
                         you don't try to...
but you can't see the whole picture
    looking as high
       as you do now.

I'm sorry,
    little one...
sometimes a kiss can't make things all better;
sometimes even a kiss can hurt,
        and what happens then?
    hearts no longer simple red shapes;
       tiny little somethings given through
          Saint Valentine's help...
now complexed, hardened and blackened,
    by what they take in...
       even more what they give out.

I'm sorry,
    little one...
Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy,
       no more real than your bedtime tales...
but monsters do exist...
    they feed off you, thrive off you,
       eat so much out of you, they live inside of you
          reside in you
       alive through the residue
    in the murky waters of you
and yours truly...
every now and then they retreat, remaining
    locked in your closet,
       accompanied by the skeletons of those
    taken before you.

I'm sorry,
    little one...
I truly wish you could stay young forever;
    For now,
       little one...
Fulfil the dreams we cannot even reach in our sleep;
Play in the rain, the mud, the snow,
    where our mind is afraid to dirty our clothes;
Soar through the air without worry of foreign waters;
Climb those trees which we think too much about
    the weight we will put on it, 
       and the way down;
Live like you never have before,
    like you never will again.
Run through the fields, not like there is no tomorrow,
    but so that tomorrow won't catch up to you...
For now, leave the monsters to us.

I'm sorry,
    little one...
this is not your fight, not yet.
Sleep tight,
    little one...
keep you pain and fears at bay.

I'm sorry,
    little one...
        for you must grow up,
                   someday.