Tuesday, July 08, 2014

"Impossible Belief"

Impossible Belief by Michael Toy

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
From "Through the Looking Glass", by Lewis Carroll

Once upon your own time there was
Believing in singing elephants and flying furniture.
It was something to be cultivated and cherished
Then you pass through the magical barrier into adulthood
And you get all the secret knowledge and the special handshake
On that day, you no longer believe impossible things
The elephants become silent
The furniture is for sitting on

The ability to see fairies in the woods
Or to fly with power granted by a blanket tied around your neck
Doesn't really come up in midterms,
Or have a section in the standard format resume
One day the wardrobe just has coats in it

Which doesn't mean we don't have dreams
We have many many dreams,
But they are made out of the stuff around us
Dreams of love, or wealth, or even selfless sacrifice
All concerning actual molecules

What if we are the same people
When we are six, and when we are thirty six?
I mean, what if none of that mystical
"You are an adult everything is different" stuff
Actually happened, even though it was supposed to?
What if the ability to believe the impossible
Actually never went away either?

For example, we did a pretty good job
When we tried out the idea
That we could stop believing like children
By just deciding to do it

After having wounded and been wounded
Many many times
Any kind of belief in love
Seems as crazy as belief in leprechauns
Yet i still believe

Maybe we can't help but believe impossible things
And just need to tell better stories
So we can believe a better impossible

Than "grownups don't do that anymore"

From

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