Parade

At a boulevard well known
Exhilaration starts
High step strutting beside fife and drum
Avenues of sun-drenched colors
Amidst waving flags
Pave the way
Sousa driven ambition begins marching

So many dreams there are
At such a young age
Quantity of anything
Seems large
Especially inside one's head
That tiny room where imaginary musings
Create adventures into worlds unknown

 Stimulation rules
Air untainted
Sky without clouds
Road ahead clear
One's journey seeming easy
All for the taking

What overflowing treasure it is
Until one's mind questions the direction
Until one ventures the side streets
The off-grid wanderings
Past grass and tree
Beyond flowers and winged escort
Onto unexplored plain
Spreading toward the ever receding horizon
Where more forks beckon dreams
Dangerously close to mortality's precipitous cliffs

 Even as one momentarily arrests the flight
Veering to the right
Swerving to the left
As new progenies shoulder forward
Squeezing tenure tighter
Rendering passage no longer under cloudless skies
No longer simple survival
within one's tiny dream room
Even then
Limited time never seems apparent
Until it does
Granting no respite to reflect
Feed the pigeons
Sway amidst the waves of wheat
Enjoy one last lager

 For there's little leisure
When the next generation
Longs to parade as well
Pushing and shoving from the rear
While the old tugs everyone forward
Dragging what is left of exhausted dreams
Into destiny's ritual finale

 How complex it all seems
When one takes the final peek into the tiny room of dreams
Where imagination once innocent began

 Everyone loves a parade
As well they should