Poems, Short Stories, and Other Random Stuff

Dreams

There once was a child who had dreams. Not just one, but many. He looked to his parents, who told "You can be whatever you want to be." Believing this in his childhood innocence, he looked to the world around him and dreamed.

He looked to the seas, and saw himself sailing, a free man, a pirate, and an explorer.
He looked across the earth, and saw himself exploring uncharted lands, and waging great battles as a knight atop a battle horse, even as a plane flew overhead.
He looked to stars, and saw himself flying between them, on a rocket ship.

As he dreamed, the Earth spun, until the day came that the boy realized that it was a lie. He could not be whatever he wanted to be. The world had been thoroughly explored.Knights did not wage battles anymore. And he had not imagined war with death. Especially not the bloody impersonal wars fought now.
Humans did not fly among the stars. They sat on a space station and left the exploring to robots. Dreams were for children, and it was not allowed to stay a child forever. 

So he put aside his dreams, his battle horse, and his rocket ship, and became an adult.