Take Me Back

-a poem-

I wish I could go back in time, to the past I cannot grasp

I wish I could go back and appreciate all I had

The happy days in the sun, before I turned sad

Before the goodness in life became tainted with the bad

They ask what time period I would visit if I had a Time Machine

Truth be told there’s all sorts of things I would love to see

But mostly I want to pay a visit to younger me

I want to tell her the words she doesn’t yet know she needs to hear

Let her know that her future will be hard but there’s nothing to fear

Give her a shoulder to cry on as I hold her near

Tell her “you have to fight for what you want, my dear”

I don’t want to change what she goes through, no way

To do that would be to erase who I am today

But I do want her to know she will be okay

Though at times she may feel alone or defeated or worthless

Every path she walks has a purpose

And once she gets where I am she can find the beauty in the replay

But getting here has been hard

Faced with loss, death, broken relationships, abandoned friendships, trying to please everyone, being singled out for every failure and never given any praise

Filling the roles everyone else is too busy to take on

I’m 17 and exhausted

Just trying to get back

Please take me back

Take me back to chalk on the sidewalk, and bubbles in the sky

Take me back to hopscotch and counting clouds up so high

Take me back to story time and nursery rhymes

Back to innocence and trust

A time before I even knew of heartbreak and lust

My life is not a bad one, per say

I’m happy where I am

But I still want to go back, just for a day

To relive the past that’s slipping through my grasp