Those fairy tales, Oh! Those ‘ships-sans-sails’
Seem, passing zephyrs, so many moons ago
Over crestfallen years, chase we joys thru travails
Live life in arrears, why we yearned to grow!

How we seized the sun, its realms, in teeny fists!
Starry eyes, measured mystiques, of heavens, just so
How broke, now we, wise foolhardy realists!
Stuck in same spent spree, why we yearned to grow!

How we held so dear, broken bangles’ souvenirs
Never lost was time, counting stars, high and low
What has made us now, phantoms of our fears?
Tomb of blood, sweat and tears, why we yearned to grow!

Call it time-honored rituals, of coming of age
When an innocence, molts into, a social vow
To never look back, at that forlorn cage
Which we left, to age, why we yearned to grow!

© 2016 Vikas Chandra