If you met your younger self tomorrow, what would you tell them? (Apart from investing in Apple, ofcourse). This coming of age poem tells the story of a quiet dinner between two versions of the same woman. One full of dreams, the other full of experience.
It’s a gentle inspiring reflection on how we grow, what we lose along the way, and what it means to dream again. A soft, bittersweet piece for anyone who’s ever wondered where they are and where they are going.
I met my younger self for dinner
She was 45 minutes late.
She blamed an urgent meeting.
I let out a slight laugh.
She sat down with her back straight,
And her nails polished.
I straightened up from my slouch.
“What are we drinking today?”
She asked, looking around
Her voice filled with an infectiouscheerful warmth.
Her cheerfulness felt like a tingling relief
with a pinch of bitterness.
As if your frozen fingersare under warm water.
She ordered a Piña colada
And I ordered a Merlot.
She wanted the Mac and cheese
I got the salad bowl.
“So, did we get everything we wanted?”
She asked with a wide-eyed stare.
“Mostly?”.
Unsure of what it was that I wanted so much.
“Oh I’m so jealous, I can’t wait for that”
I smile weakly,without telling her the cost of achieving a dream.
The people you love fade away,
The armour is broken in every way,
Your sense of self blurs away.
Instead, I tell her,
“Dream as big as you can”.
She noded with a wide smile.
“I always do”.
Immediately, her words ring back to me,
like the melody of an old favorite song
I can hum but no longer sing.
I reason that I cannot live in a fool’s paradise anymore,
I have routines and responsibilities,
But the truth is quieter and sharper:
I lack the naivety and the courage to dream.
I may have everything she wants,
But she has everything I miss.
After dinner, I dropped her off at my childhood home.
She steps into the next ten years of her life,
untouched by doubt, unburdened by knowing.
For a moment I stood still under the flickering lamppost,
That would soon get replaced with a solar light.
In the casual silence of the past, with a fluttering heart,
I whisper to myself,“You can dream as big as you want, as well”
In a land that’s been left barren,
I sow the seeds to allow myself tobloom again.
***
Guess who’s back, back again!
After years of not posting, I stumbled across my blog again, almost by chance. Reading through my old work, I saw all my work with much kinder eyes. All the comments, all the appreciation of my craft truly reminded me of how much I enjoyed sharing my writings with the world. It made me yearn for something that I cannot name yet but we can call it the joy of sharing my art in a little corner of the internet.
This is my first post, after several years, so if you liked reading it, please please be kind to it and let me know in the comments! If it made you feel a certain way, I would love to know!
ALSO, if you would meet your younger self, what would you tell them? Comment below and let me know!
The prompt for this poem comes through TikTok, by the writer Jennae Cecelia Poetry and I’m so grateful for it!
Go ahead and comment below, let me know what you thought.
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