A Poem About Your Inner Child and Growing Up

The Child in You

A Poem by Ashley C. Cantave

When you are very small
And the world seems tall
You feel limitless
Like you can do it all.
The paths are open
The world is wide
You can play any game
You can win any prize.
“Yes, this,
“This I’ll try.
“And this, too, seems alright.”
The only fears you may have
Are the monsters at night.

But when you’re not so small
And the world’s not so tall
You no longer feel
Like you can do it all.
You feel limited by
The voices outside
And the voices inside
And the monsters that hide
In recesses of thoughts
In the lies that you bought
That there’s only one path
And you can’t do the math
Because if you do
You’ll find the small you
Had it right all along
Sang an accurate song.

The paths you can choose
Are abundant, you see,
But they don’t want you to know
How free you can be.
They put limits on you
Tell you that it’s not true
That there’s more than one mold
So, you buy what you’re sold.

Until the day comes
When the child in you
Asks some serious things:
“Why are fun days so few?
“Where are the thrills?
“What happened to play?
“Why don’t we have
“Adventures to relay?”

This child won’t have it,
This life that you chose
This hiding desires
That nobody knows
This hiding of dreams
This playing it tame
This focus on work
This neglect of games.
This child won’t have it
So, she starts to scream
Asking you, begging,
“Remember your dreams!”

How is it that a child
Can feel so big
But when you are big
You feel small as a twig?
The beliefs in your mind
Keep you stuck on this path
Make you think things are fine
Though you’ve not done the math
Because if you did
You would very soon see
That this life that you chose
Leaves you hollow, empty.

The life that you want
Will require some risk
Will require much courage
Will demand that you lift
Your eyes from the path
That convention insists
Is the path that will lead
To happiness and bliss
Or maybe it doesn’t insist
But implies
That this is what life is about
But it lies.

If the child in you
Is not content
Then this is the path you must
Circumvent
Until you find that you are happy
And free
And the child in you can play
Contentedly.

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