If I Were Young Again Poem by Shalom Freedman

IF I WERE YOUNG AGAIN

If I were young again
I'd still be too shy to try
With the girl I longed for from a distance-

I still would be hidden in my books
Unable to move much in the world -

I'd still be confused trying to understand it all
Hoping that somehow I would read my way to knowing everything-

If I were young again
I would have the same failings
The same hesitations -

I'd think I was racing ahead
While falling behind -

I'd still have my envies my lusts
I would still be only a small part
of all I hoped to be

I would still be my only one small self
in a world with so much 'somebody else'-