The Child Within

The child within him stares out
Wonderingly upon the big bright world;
Peering through dark-circled eyes
The man gazes upon the dark stale world;
Deep within him the child lives on
Greeting each moment with boundless enthusiasm;
The man struggles through each day
Feeling age beyond his own, he fights to keep abreast
Of the raging tides of his ambitions;
The child within, shielded by youthful exuberance,
Cheerfully greets each person with a smile;
Creasing his tired face, the man smiles hollowly at his friends,
Counting the minutes until a time of rest;
To be the best is his ambition,
To surpass all others;
But in his quest to be the best
He sacrifices certain qualities and abilities
He loses sleep;
Burning his candle at both ends;
Only the child within drives him on toward castles in the sky.

I wrote this while in my third year of university, probably my hardest. I was also doing student consulting during the day, and typing at night. It was a rugged time. :)

I believe that I wrote this while in Toronto.

There is a sequel, The Child Without and a sequel to that called The Child Without II.