Frailty of Youth

20 years have passed by quite in the blink of an eye. But only the discerning can sight the difference. Someone has turned a lot of pages of my favorite book at the same time. I cannot seem to remember reading those chapters. People have changed, my children have changed. World views have changed, attitudes have changed. Good and bad are not different any more. My rights have changed. Truth and Lies face the same direction. My freedom lies in a golden cage embedded with wings of the past. My friends are haplessly missing like some of my incisors. I chew their memories in toothless gaps. Pages of the old album stick together because I have never had the need to open them since. I lie in bed thinking of the fragility of being young. I try to memorize my life as I see it pass before me. I am Rip van Winkle wishing for another 20 years of sleep again.