Typewriter Series #3037 by Tyler Knott GregsonI think I used to...

Typewriter Series #3037 by Tyler Knott Gregson

I think I used to be more joyful
6 year old wonder that never quite faded,
pirate hat scavenger hunt of a thing, stuffed
into the seams I can’t stop scratching at now.
I think I held it longer, filled up with wide eyed
optimism and passion like a fever, I think
I used to be more joyful.  

Time is a thief, pickpocket on some busy street,
you never feel the hand, never feel
the watch slide off your wrist.
You aim someplace, tourist in tourist shoes,
only to arrive empty and broke, fumbling
for a wallet you swore you still felt
in your back left pocket, check the hour
on a watch already halfway to the pawn shop.
I tell myself it was stolen, call myself victim
for losing the capacity for happiness,
the forfeiture of some reckless bliss,
but this is a lie I tell to sleep sounder,
this is a lie I tell for I think I used to be
more joyful, and I don’t want to carry the blame
for letting it float away.
Time is a thief, this is a truth, but some things
we give away.  

I am tired of cynicism masquerading as realism,
tired of blaming the world and its catastrophic
implosion for the colors I paint my days in,
for the choices I make without understanding
why.  I think I used to be more joyful,
and I think it’s time I was again.  In some dusty
corner of my mind, there’s a costumed kid
who still believes absolutely anything
is possible.

-Tyler Knott Gregson-