“we all start out
knowing magic.
We are born with whirlwinds,
forest fires, and comets inside us.
We are born able to sing to birds
and read the clouds and see our destiny
in grains of sand. But then
we get the magic educated right out of our souls.
We get it churched out, spanked out,
washed out, and combed out.
We get put on the straight and narrow
and told to be responsible. Told to act our age.
Told to grow up, for God’s sake.
And you know why we were told that?
We are born with whirlwinds,
forest fires, and comets inside us.
We are born able to sing to birds
and read the clouds and see our destiny
in grains of sand. But then
we get the magic educated right out of our souls.
We get it churched out, spanked out,
washed out, and combed out.
We get put on the straight and narrow
and told to be responsible. Told to act our age.
Told to grow up, for God’s sake.
And you know why we were told that?
Because the people doing the telling
were afraid of our wildness and youth,
and because the magic we knew
made them ashamed and sad of
what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”
were afraid of our wildness and youth,
and because the magic we knew
made them ashamed and sad of
what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”
― Robert McCammon, Boy's Life
