I am afraid

(original image)

I am afraid that when I am old
I will long to be the person I am right now,
that I would give anything just to feel young again.

But I am young right now.
And that comes with so much pressure to do the young person thing to do,
which is to run out and play,
break things and get lost.

But if I play all day,
there will be nowhere to go when the sun goes down.
There will be nowhere to rest my old bones
and dream about all those days I withered away in the sun.

Without even thinking, the time passes.

What gives it meaning?

What makes that meaning persist beyond the moment?