dear whoever

dear precious

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still in your head

or is someone else hogging the spotlight on the stage of your life?


dear resilient

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still feeling alive

or are you numbed by the inconsequential actions of the omniscient they?


dear hopeful

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still lighting candles on the beach

or have they all been extinguished by callous winds?


dear schoolbound

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still dived in, nose all burrowed

or are you throwing away your shackles, are they being ripped away?


dear naive

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still open and bright and relatively unblemished

or are you tired and drawn, and really not so naive after all?


dear driven

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still in the office, burnt by fluorescent light

or have you learnt that the buck only stops where you let it?


dear precocious

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still skilfully avoiding trouble again and flirting with the world

or are you locked away and huddled in your own self-oblivion?


dear headstrong

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still screaming your head off, mouth wide open, testifying to your own freedom

or are you complacently taking a bow and shutting up for once, like a good little girl?


dear terrified

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still crying in the corner and wishing the ghosts away

or are you fighting the demons, sword on sword?


dear ahead of your time

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still off on a tangent foretelling another future

or has foreboding rammed your wisdom into a box?


dear big time

where are you in the world tonight?

are you still shining in the splendour of your own garrulousness

or have your eyes started to squint in the bright lights of little big me?


dear ruthless

are you still tossing them out along the way

and treading on their heads to get to the next one

or have you been tossed away and forgotten now too?


dear so-like-me-it’s-funny

are you still so like me it’s funny

or am i more like you?