I wish I could go back to my childhood world
when disasters didn’t mean quakes and floods,
insults were nothing more than sticks and stones,
and mothers explained that bullies were “just jealous.”

I want to go back to those innocent days
when chasing dragons with wooden swords
wouldn’t be considered a suicide mission;
instead, it made you the slightly idiotic hero.

Or the times when living in a cardboard box
wasn’t just for the homeless littering the streets,
but a stunning palace for each and every little girl
who knew she was the next big thing to come.

The times when the worst that could happen
was running out of time in arts and crafts,
leaving your macaroni necklace incomplete;
yet your grandmother still flaunted it proudly.

But I know those times have come and gone,
and now all we kids can do is wait on the world.
Hopefully they’ll push past these riots and rages,
and hopefully, sometime soon, they’ll tuck their
flying fists, yet again, within their spurned hearts.