The lost and found

He spoke to me with certainty,

‘I want to be an astronaut when I grow up’

A twinkling explosion of truth.

Every word melted like soft, sweet toffee.

Pure as the mirror surface of a lake

His eyes a movie fast forward

Of how it will be when one day

His footsteps a mark on the moon.

The world only a tiny marble

All problems far away -

They dissolve into the milky-way

Where new dust is spiraling.

In those deep thoughtful waters

I get lost in awe and pain,

Have we the ones no child no more

Forgotten how to dream?

I ask myself and question

When the last time was I truly listened

To what my heart desires most,

What is my purpose, what is my truth?

Forbidden it seems to be

-An exclamation bold and strong

That resonates the drive of my soul-

Because my lips are sealed.

Stitched together by the invisible machine,

 Utilized for silence, for security.

Molded to forced perfection in the nick of time

To surpass my foolish bubble.

Am I to conclude - to state - that

Only as a child we dream because

We are too afraid, too weak, to stop living up

To expectations and models formed by predictions?

Then some day you are swallowed whole

By dreams dropped dead,

Ideas that were once so present, so vivid,

Have now failed to breathe, have been prevailed by conformity. 

But isn’t this the lie we live?

The child we once were hasn’t disappeared –

It is there, in the conscience we hold secretive,

Locked away in deepest vaults, bound in rusty chains.

And now – drowning in the lake of future aspiration –

I hold my breath

And take in the beauty of his flawless spirit,

To capture this moment for my sanctuary.

So that I can crack the shackles I am host to,

 – for I am that child,

The ever-present hero spiraling higher,

Until – yes – my mouth exhales.