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Believe
I once believed that fairies were real
That work was easy
That play was hard
I once believed that I could sit
On the clouds
That I could sing the rain away
I once believed that time was slow
That life was boring
That speaking was unnecessary
I once believed that I would be a ballerina
Twirling in a white and black leotard
Bowing to a cheering crowd
I once believed that everyone was old
That there was no such thing as change
That I would be myself forever
That my jewel-embedded shirt would always be mine
I once believed that I could never be like them
That I could never think
Or breathe
Like they do
I once believed that the world was a coloring book
Where I could color in all the pages
Pink, Blue, and Purple
I once believed that there was no such thing as bad people
That there was no such thing as make-believe
I once believed that writing was confusing
That literature was impossible to understand
I once believed that things would change
But today I realize
That it’s all the same
What I once believed
Is still right there
I wrote this piece as a reflection about growing up, which for some can be difficult to grapple with. Not so long ago, I felt as though I was losing part of myself seeing everything and everyone around me changing before my eyes. Over the course of the poem, I detail all the things that I feel are changing, including my own way of viewing the world, but by the end of the poem, I describe my realization that people/things/myself which may have seemed to be changing, are not changing as much as I feared them to be. Rather, everything/everyone around me has been evolving, not transforming. This poem is for anyone else out there who has felt the same.