An Age of Innocence

Why is what a child says,

Why are there clouds in the sky?

Why is the ocean so large?

Why can’t I…?

Why do we stop asking why?

What is it that

Is in a child’s mind

That makes them/us so inclined

To ask why?

It runs deep into our DNA

If I stop asking why

I am surrendering

To a lack of uncertainty

I am surrendering to control

Really all that is certain in this life

Is birth and death,

We stop asking why

Because it does not matter

It does not matter why

But shouldn’t it?

Why is there war?

Why can’t we embrace peace?

Why do we search

For meaning at every curve?

Perhaps we start asking what

Instead of why,

What will my future be?

What career should I have?

What will I name my kids?

But what implies certainty

And there is no certainty

Outside of our personal mortality

And the mortality

Of those we love

Why can’t I find love?

Why is my life so limited?

Why must those I love die?

These are harder questions to ask

Why is innocence

But as we age

It feels constricting,

It becomes tainted

With sorrow and grief

With existential crisis

With what if’s that we just cannot face

With feelings of betrayal

With rage and anger

How can we return to our innocence?

Our childlike dreams and questions

Of why?

Why can be loving

If we just embrace it

So I pledge to return to asking why,

But with the essence

Of my youth,

I must ask why

With hope and love

I must ask why

And embrace the uncertainty

I must surrender control

Or the belief that I alone

Should and can

Carry all of the answers

I am not God

I do not know the answers to why

But if I just continue to ask

I may find hope in the light

And embrace a future

That is impossible to see

But full of endless possibilities