Heather has a Bachelor's Degree in English from Moravian College and has been freelance writing for more than 12 years.

Looking over old pictures from a very distant past

Of a youthful girl wearing a bright pink dress

Full of white polka dots and eyes brimming with hope

Hard to fathom that 10 year old freckled face

Starring back from those semi-faded photos

Connected to the ashen, and still freckled, visage popping up

Through the large continuous cracks in the broken mirror

Wondered how time and circumstance separated the two

Wisdom and a few wrong turns caused shoulders to broaden

Girlish twinkle faded as the bulb of a once bright youth burned out

Obsessed with finding ways to escape current predicament

Nothing drastic by any means; just opportunities to smile

Music from the 1980s to dance to and remember a different era

Where the fashion was over the top and the music came with videos

Stuck on repeat the songs of a former self proclaimed "golden god"

Hair full of a lion's mane blood curly hair that grew tattered

From drugs, parties and the rock star lifestyle

One too many twists in the road led to a few accidents

Some sadness and heartbreak now crept into their performances

No longer bright and airy as a newborn

A grown up who survived a few storms to be standing

Doctors often wondered how they were still alive

Heaven knows the answer to that question

Lost friends and loved ones alike

Often pondered the answer to that very inquiry

But nothing concrete ever managed to materialize

Managed early success to hop into solo success

Full of bright and colorful music videos

To only be asked about his earliest "golden god" status

Unfair to connect someone to only 12 years of their life

So much happened before and after that

Never seemed to generate as much mystique as that chapter

Curious to see how the two scenarios connected

Lunacy to compare a music legend with a regular working stiff

Only similar in vaguest of senses obviously

Innocence hardened and faded away due to time and circumstance

Happened to all walks of life no matter how hard they tried

Can not stop living life in order to maintain status quo

People changed as they get older; impossible to stop time

There was no form of wizardry to prevent it from stopping

Just keep on living and realize that not all change can be bad

Accepting both the good and bad was the ultimate challenge

Only time will which will win out.

Comments

BRENDA ARLEDGE from Washington Court House on February 18, 2021:

Time is indeed the object that wins.

Nothing we do can turn the hands of time backwards. We can only look forward touchong those memories from the past.

Learning to love oneself...as we are Right now...in the present.

We cannot go back.

Those youthful years were full of promise. There is still more on the road ahead. No giving up just yet.

Nice work.