They say there exists a boy
inside every man, his child self
from before the burdens of the
world weighed him down.

I say there exists a man in every boy,
his future self that lends him strength
in times dire, when he must fight or flee
from a wayward dog or shellings of war.

And there exists the time of transition,
the great shift coded into his very DNA,
where he grows out from free form of
potentiality and innocence into a sculpture
forged and fired, all too knowing of horrors
that harrow all kinds, zoë and mankind.

But besides the growing woes and weariness,
there are moments that mark the coming of time,
like a son taking the car for a ride and filling fuel
without a watchful eye to catch his falls.

It is a swirl of tides, the boy seeking his future's
freedom and the man seeking his lost freedom.
But the boy is in the man and the man
is in the boy, the freedom is not
and the freedom is now.

The past is coming and tomorrow has passed.
The boy is growing and the man rewinds.



© Walyullah