Passageways

My eyes fell closed and lashes fluttered Over creaseless cheeks and smiling lips And then Time’s carousel had stuttered And anxiousness had tightened its firm grip As what once was became all new The rules of youth so sudden turned The pleasant, carelessness I knew Became a muddled pile of lessons learned And everything bore consequence And my mistakes became my errs And choices led to long suspense While aged societies conferred And weighed my words my worth by faults Deciding if I might deserve a place To be accepted, or to be locked in vaults Of loneliness, shame and disgrace… And though I merely blinked I know That I cannot go back through passageways Although I will not dream of letting go of innocence and childhood days.