forever young

I was young and the walls seemed taller,

the faces stranger, but the world smaller,

when ma was the safest I had ever felt,

the safest I would ever feel.

Then one day they sent me away,

the world was an ominous tune.

Upon it's roads prowled the meanest of men,

in step with their demon, by the light of the moon.

But the light wasn't borrowed, 'twas stolen,

and what he does is never unseen,

Not once, but again and again, I walked away,

but each time, lesser than what I had been.

I forget now how this part played out,

but I remember somewhere along that road,

I stepped out of the shade,

but not alone, never alone.

They say friends are for life,

but I was to learn otherwise.

They said a lot of things,

No one spoke of the soul.

One fall, I fell in love,

or so they had me believe,

They said love lasted lifetimes,

they were fools and so was I, as I watched her leave.

Love grew old,

as all things do,

men who walked the earth as Gods,

even me and you.

Time, illusions greatest accomplice,

slipped past our self-ordained brilliance,

leaving nothing,

nothing to pursue.

The death bed was no different from the tiny hospital gurney,

from so many years past,

vulnerable as ever,

who knew what would come to pass?

Maybe if I had a second chance,

I'd stop for a while,

find some answers,

to questions that beguiled.

I had heard these questions before,

from inside what was probably my soul,

but at the time too uncomfortable they had been,

for me to pause and behold.

And now, I know it's too late.

I am spent from trying to chase my youth.

Forever young, is a lie my fellows,

ask yourselves, and demand the truth.