I read my 13 year old granddaughter’s poignant poem. It showed me the sadness of children losing their true selves. They cannot resist the world that imposes its expectations on them. They grow up with false selves. I liked Chloe’s poem and so did my wife. I asked her permission to post it in my blog.
Remember the time
When you would climb
The tallest tree
you could find
Remember the time
When you blew onto the car window
On a cold day
And drew little hearts
With smiley faces
Remember the time
When you would dress up
Like Elsa and Anna
And you would sing
‘Let it go’
Remember the time
When you played
With the eyes of your
Baby doll –
You would push it
In a little pink pram
Remember the time
When you would pretend
To have a huge concert
And sing with a little microphone
In front of your grandparents
Remember the time
When you would hold
Your best friend’s hand
In kindergarten
And skip around,
Giggling as if
Time would last forever
Remember the time
When you cried
And hugged your mom’s legs
Because you didn’t want to leave her
When you had to go to
Preschool for the first time
Remember the time
When you made Ken and Barbie
Get married
But you couldn’t find any suitable clothes
So you left them without any
Remember the time
When you would make goofy
And big smiles with weird poses
In front of the camera
Remember the time
When you would find the prettiest
Skirt and buy the cheap
But prettiest
Little bracelets with the clear and pink
Charms and Unicorns
Remember the time
You pretended to have superpowers
And dance around the kitchen
Like a ballerina
Singing
Like a popstar
Remember
The way you smiled and played and laughed
Before you knew
Who the world
Wanted you to be.
How you ran around in your backyard
Thinking you were as fast as Superman
How you would scooter around and feel the breeze against your face
How you would kiss your Barbie dolls because you loved them
So, so much
And then the World told you
Who you had to be