There is a Time

There is a Time

There is a time in the life of every person
when they are allowed brief years to play
and be happy
and be uncaring of the burdens of plans
and the future
but they don't understand
and they want to grow-up
and they let it slip away.

There is a time in the life of every person
when they find themselves facing a reality
that teaches them
that they are now adults
and the freedom
and the pleasure
and the desires of childhood
have no place in the world of grown-ups.

There is a time in the life of every person
when their dreams are so clear to them
and in that instant
placed just out of their reach
and no matter how much
they might struggle or plan
or try to accomplish them
they can never make them real.

There is a time in the life of every person
when they finally accept
that they will never attain their dreams
and they discover
that what they have, and are, right now
is all they will ever have
and ever be
and they will never escape.

There is a time in the life of every person
when they come to understand
that life is a cruel joke
and there is no purpose or plan,
winners or losers,
just the game
and the rules,
and death.

There is a time in the life of every person
when the weight of their world
presses so heavily
upon their shoulders and back
that they cannot see any option
but to try and escape
the agonizing pain
by whatever means is available to them.

There is a time in the life of every person
when they die,
and they feel
the relief of having escaped,
even momentarily,
the distress and lies of being alive
and begin human
and being at all.

There is a time in the life of every person
when they are born,
and they scream
and fight against every breath to die,
for in those seconds at birth
they remember what it was like before,
but they lose,
and they live.

CJ Tyo
December, 1995