Do you remember the first time
Someone told you to stop acting like a child?
To sit up, shut up, own up, grow up?
When did you trade in your favorite pair of sneakers
With the light up soles, Batman etchings on the sides and neon green laces?
Can you recall the first time you realized Rugrats had lost its appeal?
Was it around the time you lost the naïve shimmer in your
I love you! Shouts a red headed little girl
Her arms and heart spread wide to the world
Proud and unashamed to admit that ultimate truth
Her heart is inflamed with rosy emotion
Shown in the glow on her face
So easily brought down and lifted high again
Knowing nothing of the pungent stench of betrayal
Disappointment has not yet tainted her ideals-
Not whittled away at the hope held tenderly in her palms
Not washed the perfectly shaped hearts from her powder pink sleeves
Do you remember when you were that girl?
When the world was your plaything, and you dreamed
Of being a ballerina, a vampire, a fireman, a blue capped train conductor
Directing your life to far off corners of the globe
Blissfully unaware still of the inevitable ill
Do you remember her?
Do you remember me?
Or are you eternally playing a dismal game of hide and go seek
Searching for her in dim corners and closets
Watching her slowly fade to nothingness
As you experienced the first death of a pet
Your first fight with a best friend
The first time your heart was broken, then mended
And then broken again