Growing Up

Growing up meant Every day you lost some illusions Every day you discovered a new statistic. You learnt it the hard way Kissing a frog won't turn it into a prince Mirror won't always say you are the fairest of all Your dainty shoe doesn't make you Cindrella But still those times were good When a child defied darkness And sauntered in lanes at will And no matter how many cages came In his way of running, he dodged With innocent cunning It was good not knowing the world Not knowing the horrors that exist The narrow compass was a safeguard Though we longed to break the rules And craved the freedom of birds But the unripe brain made sure We won't know the world In all its nakedness.