Going Back

When I compare my Japanese and my English blog, I realize that I've neglected my English blog a little bit. Since the time I've last posted, I've moved to college, passed my placement exam for Japanese, changed classes more than once, and got an opportunity to do tutoring for my old Japanese class. Things that are all really important to me.

Today's a Saturday. Game day for Michigan. We're going against Notre Dame. Sadly I couldn't care less; instead of going I met up with one of my conversation partners. This is the first girl I've ever had, and it's a really nice change of pace. She was so sweet, a pleasure to talk to really. Guys are great, don't get me wrong, but I'm afraid that before long I'll start to learn Japanese that isn't very, for lack of better words, girly. And even more so than in English, playing your part is important when speaking Japanese I think.

When I was organizing the files on my computer, I found my old poem that I wrote for last year's Children's Literature class. Someday I'm afraid I'm going to accidentally delete it or something, so I'm going to put it here for safe keeping. Looking at it now, it's not that good, but maybe it'll be nostalgic to look at it later.

Going Back

You children of the coming year
And untold, future day
Please listen closely to these words
And what I have to say

There was a time, not long ago
When I was just like you
But now I have just memories
Of things I used to do

There was this kind of magic
And it laced all that I saw
The Earth remained a beauty
And her features had no flaw

Her forest was my temple
With it's turrets arching high
Green leaves, so much like little bells
Would ring and sweep the sky

The sky was like an ocean
With a deep and virgin hue
Great clouds, like ships, would sail along
And race across it's blue

But colors now are fading
And my world's in shades of gray
And I've been wearing blinders
That restrict my sight today

Blinders that perhaps now shade
The things that I could see
Might lead me onward to the path
That matters most to me

Some animals would talk to me
And take food from my hand
They'd whisper in a language
Only I could understand

But now they are afraid of me
And speak to me no more
Time, I think, has known I've aged
And closed that magic door

My father was a noble king
My mother was a queen
My brother was a haughty duke
Both petulant and mean

But the king and queen are now divorced
They're faulted, and I see
The duke, who I had used to loath
Is now a friend to me

My family has changed with time
To strangers I don't know
The masks they wear hide faces still
They they have yet to show

With every year they're dying
And it pains me when I know
The place to which they're leaving to
Is somewhere I can't go

We travel by a place but once
Before life moves us on
To unknown journeys, grand and new
Until our time is gone

Remember every storybook
And fable, false or true
Remember every fairytale
And what it means to you

Come listen to the unheard songs
The whispers of the trees
And harmonize to melodies
That float along the breeze

Go taste the crimson morning sun
And smell the pallor moon
For these are kinds of memories
That leave you all too soon

We as adults cant do these things
With age there comes a cost
It's only when we're older
We can see all that we've lost

But memories are all they are
Just shadows of the past
And now I've come to understand
That nothing good can last

Your childhood is but a dream
From which, someday, you'll wake
And sometime soon you'll have to choose
The path you wish to take

At times I've tried to search for it
This heart that I now lack
But I've grown up and now I know

I'm never, Going Back.