Maturity Poem by Patti Masterman

We're born into such a tiny space-
Time's disbarred at first;
Only a few two-dimensional faces
You gradually learn to recognize.

Things slowly expand to three dimensions
To enclose a room, a house, a block:
An entire expanded family, with rooms,
Houses, expectations of their own.

Growing older, there's more expansion:
Four dimensions now, and everything gobbles up time-
Streets, towns, highways and cities
Their abstract bodies suck up all available time
Days whiz by out of control..

Then one day you notice it:
Someone has kicked over the dividers
Whisked away the walls, the barriers..
The buildings, roads and highways have all run together now
Like blood veins pooling together.

The days leap by like graceful deer
The familiar faces have disappeared
You wonder when did it begin- when did all the divisions
The separations, move inside of yourself?

Then you start all over; trying to expand your borders again,
The way you remember it once was
The way things were at the very start
When time wasn't allowed yet.