The Lost Clan

花样年华 [Youth]

Youth has always been linked to age; being young, wild and free. Youth is the period when you can yell out to the world that 'you only live once'.

To take chances.
To make changes.
To live freely.
To live in peril.
Because youth; you can only live once.

Youth, we have been through thick and thin.
From being decorous to being rebellious.
From being tenuous to being strong.
From being the bystander to being the antagonist.

We stand up for ourselves.
We grow.

From being assiduous to slacking.
From little white lies to committing crimes.
From being the epitome of innocence to being the epitome of corruption.

And just like the fallen angels who once served humans,
Youth,
led us to our fall.

Youth, we can make you see the world, crystal clear.
Youth, we can make you grow.
Youth, we can make you understand.

Through youth, the mist that has been clouding our minds, dissipates.
Like erasing colours on a sheet of paper made by vibrant colour pencils,
the colours began to smudge each other,
enveloping one another and becoming a whole,
a prominent black hole.
We can make you see the world, crystal clear.

Through youth, we have always thought that the world was a shade of grey.
Oh, how wrong when it separates into black and white.
Like two realms;
the good and the evil.
Just one day, you have to choose a side.
As society mentions, there is no in between.
Take the road to heaven,
and you are safe.
Take the other road,
without questioning,
your wings become the devil's.

The real question is,
can you call this a crime ?

We can make you grow.

Through youth, we learn and we see.
And we make mistakes.
To only realise the world doesn't hold much goodness.
To understand the innate savagery, the inherent evil within us,
which outweighs the goodness that we once lived with.
To only see that without laws, we are nothing but a monster; stripped of our identity; forgotten.
Just like the Joker had once said,

"We stopped checking for monsters under our bed when we realise they were inside us."

We can make you understand.

But youth does not end here.

The definition of youth depends on the viewer themselves. If youth is such simplicity, you are just realistic.

Youth has no age. It isn't just a time when you are young. It's a process of imperceptible growth. To me, youth is a tangled mess; it has no direction and it extends till the day I die.

Youth, in my dictionary, is to live and spread your wings. Youth is to chase your dreams and imagine the impossible. Youth is the never ending cycle of learning and understanding.

Youth is when I clung onto my parents' hands. I never understood their love. All the times we have been through; scolding each other about minuscule things; nagging; taking care of me, I didn't appreciate. However as time passes, we grow to understand that these are the love we should hold onto tightly.

Youth is when I lied to my parents. White lies spewing out everyday just to appease my mother; the lies I told to get something I desired; going out with friends. This is part and parcel of life. I never understand why my parents are so protective, even until today.

Youth is when I sobbed for my mistakes. Without my mistakes, things wouldn't be the same. Who knows? I would probably be smoking on the balcony or the studious nerd that get straight As. Without my mistakes, I wouldn't be what I am. It came to my realisation that 'if' is dangerous to a human mind.

Youth isn't perfect. It isn't as wonderful as anyone has imagined it to be. Youth is a living assumption. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable journey you would probably never want to live again. There's no time for 'if's and 'but's, no time to think because the time continues ticking while we grow old and watch everyone we love grow old too.

Youth nurtures maturity. Isn't it ironic? Youth and maturity are thousands of kilometres apart, yet they fit like puzzle pieces. Without youth, you will not mature. Without maturity, you can't go further in youth.

Youth does a lot of things to our fragile minds. Youth makes up most of our memories, and memories are what make us. After all, you wouldn't be you without your memories.

Oddly, without youth, there will be no memories to mould the person you are today.

Youth is a constant, it just stays there, beautiful.