The Forcefield of Youth

Published January 18th, 2007

A child, designing castles on a beach, Digging holes – 

Sand streaming out behind like a rooster tail, Noisy, excited, breathless, 

Every game an adrenalin rush of urgency On her beach, each shell is a priceless commodity 

And reality can be left behind to play in her world Where the only pain a stubbed toe or a skinned knee 

Or the imagined pain of a make-believe arrow She craves the diversion of imagination, 

Her games are complicated and uninhibited. She appears to be aloof and distant, but 

Her unstated melancholy leaves behind contrails Of sadness in the wet sand 

The child is not yet familiar with the heartache Of awareness, 

And continues to play her game unchallenged Unburdened yet by the double bind of forgetfulness 

And memories – saviour and destroyer both Her game over now, she walks slowly 

No longer lost in a frenzy of delight The beach no longer a catalyst to her imagination 

Her battered psyche remains cocooned  Until time sloughs off the insulating force field of youth 

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