This poem packed so much personal experience, perspective and wisdom. I love how it flows and how we never realize what our future holds, but that we can learn to understand and appreciate the innocence of what we had. That last stanza really stayed with me. How often we wish for things that seem to hold "maturity" yet when those things come we realize a greater importance in the wide-eyed yearning for adventure, when life was simpler, etc.

Happy to see this nominated!

An excellent poem, Darren. It was really difficult not to rate it higher in the contest as the quality of the poetry was so high. It’s one of those classic ‘be careful what you wish for’ poems. I always laughed when my parents said school was the best time of your life. I will tell my children the same thing :)

I don't think people realize how freeing being a child actually is for the most part. This is why being an adult is difficult, because we look back on those times in the past hoping we can have a do over, but alas being an adult is not as rosy. I did enjoy the way each of your stanzas played out. It is almost like you have a child like wonder of how great being an adult will be, but then growing up too fast and leading to a new myriad of problems. Well done and nominated.

A nice reflection on the race from childhood to being an adult and the realisation that its never better than being a child. If we are lucky we take with us into adulthood the essense, merryment and innocent fun of being a child but mote often than not for many it slips away. Milly x

Absolutely loved this darren... The reflection upon your youth and how quickly time flies then before we know it we're what we wanted to be for all those years an adult but what we didn't realise is how much we have to grow up, the bills we need to pay because our cjoldhood (for the majority of us at least) was seen behind rose tinted glasses and out parents though they could have had the weight of the world on their shoulders didn't let us see it for fear of our innocent minds becoming worried. Yes in childhood there's things that happen ie bullying etc but skinned knees are definitely much more appreciated than broken hearts... And just for the record even though I was bullied all my school life it was still some of the best years of my life.
Take care

Judge's Comment:

Darren utilizes a plethora of writing mechanisms in his poem about childhood dreams and adult realizations, and every bit works. From the alliteration to the metaphors and sagely advice, this poem reinforces a lesson that we all learn too late in life. No doubt this could be a poem I would read in English class in High School, and its message would be lost upon young me. Older, though, older it’s not the same. As much as it hurts to be reminded of this, Darren’s ability to relate to his reader is a priceless gem these days.

-Stephen