In the soft glow of the morning

I roll out of bed and stare in the mirror

My eyes searching for the thing I've lost.

Yesterday: my limbs like a sapling,

my face like a lilypad 

Today: my waist like a tree,

my legs like tiger stripes. 

 

If I could only pin where I lost my younger self...

I search for my ambition to giggle like a child,

yet I cannot find it.

I search for my willingness to play dolls with my sister, 

yet I cannot find it

Did I leave it in my backpack?

 

In the middle school cafeteria,

kids who used to play dress-up with eachother,

now cannot be bothered to sit next to one another.

Like the ends of magnets, people attract and repel,

all for the sake of finding a lunch table.

Maybe I left it in the car...

 

We now enter High School.

All of the peers I used to play hide and seek with,

now slaves to a device that holds their lives.

We find it harder and harder to connect,

even when a connection is at our fingertips. 

I probably just left it at home.

 

I return home afterschool

to find that It hasn't been lost afterall,

just put away for special occasions.

I realize that maybe I needed to let it go 

so I could discover who I am. 

We can't hold on to our inner child forever, 

but maybe we can pull it out on special occasions,

just to rediscover a time when we didn't have to worry