With confidence not dented by apprehension,
With passion not touched by skepticism,
With conviction not diluted by distractions,
With creativity not influenced by knowledge,
With excitement not dampened by experience,
With curiosity unblemished by incentives,
The kids toiled away to build their own,
Limited only by their imagination.

I watched awestruck and jealous,
Realizing the cost of growing up,
Trying hard to reverse the effect,
to adopt an uncolored view,
to shun the prejudices, 
to shed the cynicism,
to ignore expectations,
to avoid following a set path,
And carve my own.