Hidden dangers

Which things excited you the most when you were young,
can you recall the pleasures they would bring? Indulge
yourself, dispose your mind of daily care and take
the plunge – but beware, there’s hidden dangers here.

Have you ever sucked your thumb? And if you did would
you admit you did? Did you ever lick your plate, masturbate,
cogitate an evil fate for siblings who offended you. You know
you do, or that you did, although you’re no recidivist.

Were you ever lost in song, sang along in perfect
harmony in what you thought was sweet accord,
to find indulgent faces soon disgraced, distorted
as in pain, derisive claims you sing off-key?

Ever take a book to heart and read it end to end,
delighting in the hero’s part, falling for the heroine?
Were you lost for days and days in roles they played,
amazed real life declines romantic endings?

Did you chose to be approved so you could chase your
wanton dreams? Are you awake alone at night wondering
where the story ends and life begins? Are you real
or just a dream or is this what your fiction seems?
© I.D. Carswell