Faded Kingdom
The loss of childhood
Poem
The loss of childhood
Childhood fades like a dream at dawn,
its technicolour vibrancy bleeding
to pastel in memory’s grasp.
The walls between worlds soften,
magic seeping back into mundane earth.
Once-enchanted lands lie barren,
tall towers now unremarkable houses,
great quests reduced to childish fancy.
The imagination alone recalls what was,
before it too surrenders to time.
Beloved companions become strangers,
their faces obscured behind adult masks.
Cherished hideaways are razed,
transformed into empty lots and office parks.
Only ghosts roam the ruins.
The initiate emerges jaded, no longer believing
in secrets kept by stone and stream.
Disillusioned, they sever the thread leading back,
exile themselves from that fading memory.
Yet glimmers remain in half-forgotten runes,
scribbled maps recalling the mythical terrain.
Whispers in the twilight carry notes of buried anthems,
waiting to be unearthed.
I must learn to decipher the lingering echoes,
codes from a once-native land.
Though exiled, some remembrance lives on,
nor is return impossible for those who seek it.