Getting Older

I came across this poem, by Billy Collins, in something I read recently. It's an poetic telling of what it's like to finally turn 10, to move from the innocence of our childhood to adolescence. It's also sad as it points out (I think) the death of part of our imagination.


The whold idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chickenpox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I would shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.


I especially love the images of wizards and princes that we can all probably identify with. Something happened to our imagination along the way. For some reason we're no longer able to suspend reality for adverture's sake save when we're watching a movie or reading a novel. What a disservice to our inner child, to our primal, playful imagination, to those formative parts of us that continually impact who we are today.

Perhaps, today, when you're driving home in your car you can take those minutes to imagine you're racing down a track for your life in a battle against your arch nemesis! Or maybe you'll be embarking on a quest (people don't go on enough quests anymore) to save the one you love from mortal danger and great peril! Maybe you can let your mind engage in a bit of play for a few minutes.

Give it a try, I'd love to hear about it on the comments section. Go have some fun.