As a child I was devout
Faithfully glued to
An idea with no truth

But I spoke clearly
Understood the fictions
Better than most adults did

Like little girls understand
Barbies, My little ponies
And monster high dolls

Like grown women
Who still want to be
The princess they saw
On Disney

Like little boys understand
GIJOE, Spiderman,
And Superman

Like grown men
Who still want to be
The Batman they saw
In movies on tv

I clung to this fair unreality
Hoping it would be redemption for me
Because the bruises and red marks
Demanded I believe
Insist I must need
A superhero Jesus to save me

While I was drowning in a sea of sin
I had to beg the divine to let me in
Noah’s Ark,

Hoping that god knows my heart
Was full of good intentions

But the bathroom florescent lights
Made me feel ugly
Like everyone was judging me
With all my pores and acne
With all the scar my mom gave me
Though she hid them perfectly
Just beneath my skin

I thought god would save me from her whims
Or at least take me away to be with him

Instead of leaving me in pain’s den
To lose those faithful delusions
One heartbreak at a time
One history and science lesson at a time
One standup routine and comic book at a time

Till I lost my taste for the divine
While at the same time
I was just plain losing my **** mind

There’s a little bit of wiggle room,
there to let me wriggle through
tight corners and passageways
that lead out to brighter days
of childhood imagination at play.

Lava like floor to explore
as I jump from one piece of
furniture to the next,
barely escaping that terrible fate
as I try to catch my rapid breaths.

The swing under my stomach
that lets me fly up swiftly
until my arch enemy,
gravity
grabs me
and pulls me back down
to the hard-hitting ground.

He-man and Thundercat sword fights that
are as epic as a I can imagine,
till I step up to ride on my furry white dragon.

Me, GIJoe, and the Autobots  
fight off Cobra and Decepticons
until it’s time for me to move on
to Star Trek and X-men adventures.

There is just a little more time to
live in the past dreams of play
and remind myself
that I don’t have to be an adult
every minute, of every day.