PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

It happened again in the bookstore the other day…

It has happened to me before….

In truth…as each year passes…it happens a little more.

It’s pretty much always the same…the way the interview unfolds….

A boy or girl of a certain age and innocence asks me:

“What’s it like…being old?”

I’ll look at them and smile…“Let me think about it.” I say.

“Hmmm…I still love to run and jump and be surprised

I could eat ice cream every day.”

“I still love to play all kinds of games…still love having fun.

I still marvel at rainbows, at clouds…at the stars, the moon…the sun.” 

“I still love smelling flowers in Springtime…

chasing leaves in Autumn…wherever in the wind they blow.

I still love walking in a summer rain and playing in the winter snow.”

“I still love reading fairy tales…a good hot chocolate…but not too hot!

and sometimes…I still dream…about being an astronaut.”

“I still say, ‘I love you’ out loud. 

I still nap each day…for a little while

and blowing up a balloon to this day still makes me smile.”

If the child is still standing there…which, of course, may times they are not

I tell them, “I think I’m ready to respond with the answer you have sought.”

“I do not know what it’s like being old…

and I have this wish for you…before you go.

I hope that being old is also something you too…will never know.”

As they walk away I have this hope that one day they’ll understand

how youth has no constraints…

Now…if you’ll excuse me I seem to have this sudden urge…

to find some Play-doh…or finger paints.