When I Was Young

When I Was Young
© Surazeus
2024 10 08

When I was young I thought mountains were gods 
asleep after making love to create 
wingless angels who sing among fruit trees 
with reverent awe for how the rain transforms 
mud to flowers that blossom from our brains, 
but now I know they are starships from Heaven. 

When I was young I snuck in theaters 
to watch celestial beings make snarky quips 
about the demon hiding in the Bible 
while chasing divine butterfly of love 
in mirror funhouse at amusement parks, 
but now I map the Cavern of Illusions. 

When I was young I walked the signless road 
across the waste land with Tiresias 
to find the tomb where corpse of Jesus rots 
so I can ask the skull of Hamlet why 
beautiful young women are always killed, 
but now I live with Sri Dewi, my wife. 

When I was young I visited the moon 
where she always sat by the waterfall 
to chat about the secret of rebirth 
till she was kidnapped by the castle king 
who burned her at the stake as a dream witch, 
but now I weep for her face in the pool. 

When I was young I rode the city bus 
to walk streets of Seattle in green rain 
on sacred quest to find the Holy Grail 
that shimmers in hands of the lonely girl 
who lives on the other side of the globe, 
but now I eat meals she prepares for me. 

When I was young I hitchhiked on the road 
across the land from sea to shining sea 
to play guitar of Mercury and sing 
long epic ballads no one listens to 
while office clerks chase leprechauns for gold, 
but now I weave Easter baskets and hum. 

When I was young I mapped world history 
from reign of Ishtar on the pyramid 
through ten thousand years of brutal warfare 
while riding horses to the Promised Land 
to colonize fertile lands for my God, 
but now I socialize on the Internet. 

When I was young I ate purple mushrooms 
that ravens brought me from the cave of ghosts 
who lead me through Museum of the Mind 
where I wandered lost in world maze of myths 
past idol of each soul who ever lives, 
but now I write love letters to the dead.