I AM
                                         by Ari Pollack
 
 
 
*I am a child*
 
I wonder about life’s mysteries and what they mean to me
 
I hear you are too young, but I am not, I know they talk of lies and greed
 
I see a pool of confusion writhing, like a pit of snakes, in my mind, as
I think of politics
 
I want to be heard, for children often find answers to problems with
mere innocence
 
*I am a child*
 
I pretend not to feel the despair seeping into our world, a cold draft
through a wood wall
 
I feel dismissed; no one wants to hear my views, as I am just a silly
innocent “little thing”
 
I touch destiny, something we lose faith in as we become “too old for
childish foolery”
 
I worry for all those who lost all individuality, relying on others to
survive
 
I cry out in frustration, feeling quashed, like a bug under a shoe on
the pavement
 
*I am a child*
 
I understand now that no matter what you do, once you lose innocence it
is gone
 
I say follow your dreams and you can go far, but I am ignored, unheard,
forgotten
 
I dream that one day I can make or world better by listening to kids’ views
 
I try to listen to people now, and I read their emotions, but do not
reveal them
 
I hope to achieve this so no one must go unheard, and everyone’s valued,
no matter what
 
*I am a child*