I wish I stayed six years old,
When happiness fit in muddy shoes,
When scraped knees healed by morning light
And bad days vanished with cartoons.
The world felt smaller then somehow,
Safe in ways I never knew,
Where home could fix most broken things
And every sky still felt bright blue.
Back then the days would drift so slow,
I never feared where time might go.
I wish I stayed seven years old,
When friendship meant a football in the rain,
When laughter came so easily
And nobody thought to hide their pain.
The days stretched out like endless roads,
Summer living in my skin,
Before people slowly changed themselves
And life grew louder from within.
The years moved on without a sound,
Yet somehow lost what once was found.
I wish I stayed eight years old,
When Christmas still felt magian,
When boredom barely stood a chance,
And joy arrived so natural.
I thought the world was endless then,
Like nothing good could leave,
Before I learned that growing up
Means learning how to grieve.
Perhaps the young know something true,
That life feels light before it’s blue.
I wish I stayed nine years old,
Before they asked me who I’d be,
Before the future sounded loud,
Before the weight of possibility.
At nine, tomorrow felt too far
To ever fear or doubt-
Back then life was simply lived,
Not something to figure out.
The clock grew louder every year,
Replacing wonder slowly with fear.
I wish I stayed ten years old,
When home still felt enormous,
When my parents looked invincible,
Like nothing bad could touch us there,
I never feared the passing days,
Never feared goodbye,
Because nobody explains to children how quickly time can fly.
You never see the moment pass,
Until your childhood lives in glass.
I wish I stayed eleven years old,
Before silence started meaning things,
Before nights grew long with overthinking,
And worry found its wings.
Before people learned to leave without saying where they’d gone,
Before I understood,
That not everything lasts long.
We lose ourselves in subtle ways,
Through quiet nights and passing days.
I wish I stayed twelve years old,
Still close enough to wonder,
Still young enough to believe,
Life would somehow stay kinder.
Before mistakes felt permanent,
Before fear settles in,
Before growing into someone new,
Meant losing who I’d been.
Time never stops to ask use why,
It simply waves and passes by.
I wish I stayed thirteen years old,
Before mirrors mattered so much,
Before confidence grew fragile,
At the slightest careless touch.
Everyone else looked certain,
Or maybe just good at pretending,
While I stood somewhere in-between,
Unsure where I was heading.
It’s strange the things we leave behind,
The younger selves we cannot find.
I wish I stayed fourteen years old,
Before weeks blurred into years,
Before birthdays started feeling,
Like measurements of fears.
The things we begged for as a child,
Arrive and leave is feeling wild.
I wish I stayed fifteen years old,
When life stopped feeling small,
When every choice felt heavier-
Like one wrong ste[ could lose it all.
Family saying. ‘’work harder’’,
Teachers asking what came next,
Every dream felt less like freedom,
More like pressure, fear, and stress.
Love can weigh more than we admit,
When fear of letting people down won’t quit.
I wish I stayed sixteen years old,
Before freedom felt expensive,
Before every choice felt permanent,
Before the future grew extensive.
People call this growing-
Like it’s beautiful somehow,
But nobody talks about the weight,
That settles on you now.
Then all at once the years had flown,
And somehow I was nearly grown.
I wish I stayed seventeen years old,
Standing somewhere near the edge,
One hand gripping childhood memories,
The other hanging from the ledge,
Family hoping I’ll make something,
Saying, ‘’one day you’ll understand’’,
But nobody sees how frightening,
The future feels held in my hands.
Everyone says, ‘’these are the best years’’,
Yet all I seem to miss,
Is the little boy I used to be,
The one who never feared all this.
I wish I could be six again,
Where life moved slowly through the day,
Where love felt endless, warm and bright,
And fear still felt so far away.
Where the hardest choice I had to make,
Was whether to stay outside till dark,
Before the world grew wide and cold,
And left its shadow on my heart.
Because maybe growing older,
Is learning what you miss,
Spending all your later years,
Just longing for that childhood bliss.