Share this page :
Billy Collins (22 March 1941 - / New York City)
On Turning Ten
The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.
You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.
But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.
This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.
It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.
Read poems about / on: soldier, believe, today, light, remember, beautiful, house, tree, dark, time, friend
People who read Billy Collins also read
Top 500 Poems
-
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
Invictus
William Ernest Henley
-
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
I LLLOOOOVVVVEEEE THIS POEM! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I have nothing bad to say! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I must admit this is one helluvan idea. I wonder if it could have been written in the language of ten. Compare with Christmas Tree by e.e.cummings.
Hmmmm. 'I felt so ashamed to be 10 years old and afraid.43 isn't much different'. Feels like a poem coming on. ;)
This poem had me reminiscing about my 10th. It was 1975 and 'Jaws' had just come out. I had the coolest birthday ever - a pool party and everyone got rubber sharks as a party favor. I was afraid to get in the pool. I felt so ashamed to be 10 years old and afraid. 43 isn't much different.
This is a great poem to read to children, they get a huge kick out of this idea....looking back on your life when you are that young....