Name: Children Getting Older Without Growing Up

Summary: You used to swing through the air with your feet on the ground.

Title: Toy Box Smile

Silly songs your mother sang
Keep getting stuck inside your head
Brightly colored picture books
Are scattered underneath your bed

Braided ribbons ‘round your wrist
Because you tied the knots too tight
They’ve faded pale over time
What’s pink was red, what’s grey was white

Broken pencils on the floor
Pens and markers without ink
Crumpled paper underfoot
Seeing bright spots when you blink

Crayons in a plastic bin
For drawing on your bedroom wall
Photos hanging with a pillow
Underneath in case they fall

Cross your legs up on your bed
In socks because your shoes don’t fit
You wrote stories about love
Because your mind was full of it

Tuck your feet up as you sleep
So you’ll be safe from bogeymen
It used to be they weren’t there
But you know less than you did then

So silly songs your mother sang
Are playing on inside your head
You got too old for picture books
But they’re still stuffed under your bed