There is an incessant shedding of innocence as we flow through the waters of life.

There is no stopping it.

Realities of different natures start to saturate our minds and eventually we come to the realization that everyone’s reality is but relative to the person. Some see the world as a swirling mass of life that can be controlled by understood factors, whilst others see life as controlled by unimaginable factors.

Growing up is infiltrated with contradictions and beset with notions that we are attempting to call our own.

The layers of existence peel away in a relentless effort to reach our cores so that we may form our own inner worlds and sets of ideas. These ideas are the result of reality shocks and realizations that snatch the essence of innocence from our souls, only to allow ourselves to delve into inner truths and complicated worlds.

There is that time, when in solitude, we attempt to grasp the depth of our existence and try to venture back in time when life itself was nothing but a speck, when a ‘soul’ was piecing itself together, when the uncomplicated earth was giving way to complicated life.

Can we ever return to innocence?

To a time that unicorns formed our dreams and stillness was never a question.

When laughing for no reason except seeing a beautiful bird gave us a thrill of pleasure.

When hearing the thunder and watching the lightning filled us with an unexplainable awe with nature.

To a place where time held  no value except to see the darkness of night and the rays of the sun.

Can we return back to that place when we were never afraid to tell someone, anyone that we loved them, not for any intent or purpose, but simply because it was felt, when nothing ever had double meanings, when games did not reside in our minds, but were simply cardboard cutouts.

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Editor: Brianna Bemel