children are
honest and loud
new pilots in
awkward meat rockets
as yet unashamed
of who they are
the world hasn’t
snuffed them out
like a cigarette butt
beneath the boot
of bastard time
everything is new
and they revel in
the experience
of being alive

as adults
we chase after love
desperate to feel
untethered from
the weight of living
in our deteriorating
bodies all alone
trapped in our skulls
living half lives
scarred by existence
silenced by time
seeking another soul
in which to share
yet throttled by
harsh lessons learned
from the experience
of being alive