Scars and Swings − 3 March, 2007

The other day I was sitting in a swing in my back yard, when I saw some kids playing in the yard adjacent to mine. As I watched them, one girl and one boy, running and laughing, I realized just how far away I was from my days of flawlessness and innocence. I looked at the cigarette smoldering in my hand as if I'd never seen one before, and contemplated the burning in my throat.

I thought about how many nights I've gone to sleep drunk, and about the various other punishments I've inflicted upon my own body. My scars, both physical and emotional, seemed to be badges now, alerting the world around me that I was damaged goods. My laugh had become cynical and jaded, and I wasn't a kid anymore, and in this realization I sat on that swing heavily under the tar pit sky. It seemed that everywhere there was decay and pollution. Was I so far removed from those playing children? If I was, I pitied them, and silently bade them to enjoy their purity. It wouldn't survive for much longer.

Posted on March 21, 2007. and has been viewed 235 times.