my worst fear

 What if one night, as a teenager, I lay down,  
Drifting into dreams in a slumbering town?  
The stars whispered secrets, the moon softly glowed,  
But time played a trick, and my journey slowed.  

In stillness, I sank into shadows so deep—  
A world lost to dreaming, a long, endless sleep.  
Days turned to years while I quietly stayed  
In a coma's soft grip, as the world slowly frayed.  

Then one fateful morning, the light broke the dark.  
I woke in a hospital, lost in the starkness.  
Ten years had slipped by like whispers in the air—  
A decade of silence wrapped tight in despair.  

What faces looked down with worry and care?  
What stories had faded? What moments were there to share?  
Oh, how the world changed in ways I couldn't see.  
That night turned a key, locking away part of me.  

The nurses spoke softly, their voices blending  
With tales of times I couldn't defend.  
Friends had grown distant; their lives had moved on.  
Where laughter once echoed, now silence was drawn.  

My skin bore the traces of years lost in wait.  
Each line told a story of how life can break.  
I longed for the reckless joy of my youth,  
But the mirror reflected a shadow of truth.  

Walking through halls with familiar old grace,  
I felt like a ghost in this once-cherished space.  
My heart felt like stone—heavy and cold—  
As the warmth of the sun blazed over the old.  

I missed all the dances, the laughter, the fun.  
The dreams I had woven now felt undone.  
Conversations felt foreign, like words in a book.  
I grasped for a timeline that vanished and forsook.  

Outside the bright window, the world carried on  
While I sat here wondering where I had gone wrong.  
The teenagers laughed, unaware of my plight,  
As I longed for those days lost in the night.  

The clock ticked for others but stood still for me  
While I stood at the edge of a life I could see.  
A heart that once raced now felt heavy and worn—in  
The shadow of youth, I felt tattered and torn.  

And so I sat, pondering the joy I had known  
In a world that had blossomed while I was alone.  
What if time's cruel passage—so relentless, so real—  
Had stolen the youth I yearned to feel?  

With each fleeting moment, I learned to accept  
That the child in my heart wasn't lost, just swept  
Into dreams that still echoed in whispers of night,  
Yet I mourned for the years that slipped out of sight.  

As twilight descended, a profound silence enveloped me.  
In a body now weary, I felt so unbound.  
The laughter grew distant, the nights stretched so long,  
For I wasn’t young anymore; it all felt so wrong.