I Will Play Until the Sky is Black, Breathe in all the Air...

Paradise in every swimming pool
Paradise in every playground slide
Paradise, fresh baked in a cookie jar

If I were you, I would defend my innocence visually
I would fight all those who tried to rob me of it
Because there are some things you just don't need to know

Tragedy in the Dentist's office
Tragedy in every skinned knee
Tragedy spilled all over the kitchen floor

If I knew then what I know now, I'd stay six years old...

~Alexisonfire

Surely few more truthful, lucid and poignant lyrics have been penned. Pray-tell, when did we become the cynical creatures we are? And explain to me, down-and-outers, how sweet the remains of your childhoods taste in your mouths when you nibble on a morsel of them these days. We're not our Mothers' babies anymore - we are the remnants of our raisings.

And thinking back, do you remember the small joys of your life? Do you recognise the magic of the world as you did in those days? Would you have picked up the bottle, or the spliff, or the needle, as early as you did if you could have seen where you are now? If you can answer a truthful 'yes', then you are a better human being than I. Either that, or you are a fool, a drunkard, a junkie, or a whore. At one stage or another I have been close to being all of those things, but I recognise those times for what they are, and can safely say I am not proud. Regrets are most people's biggest fear, but I have to learn to come to terms with them, for they are not going away.

I suppose there is wisdom in the infantile mind. Genius - to me - is a love of knowledge and an ability to absorb it. There is no more prolific time for genius than childhood. Whether you outgrew it or not, at some stage the fecundity of your intake of knowledge probably counted you among the truly great minds. Most of us, lamentably, just can't keep up the pace, and so we become cogs in the wheel rather than the one who invents it. There is no shame in that - if there was the world would be a much harsher place, and that is a frightening thought.

Such heavy thoughts for a Friday night. Whilst the majority find solace in heaving throngs, tonight I am glad I do not number amongst them. I feel safe here in this village; close to my roots and far from my mistakes. Come take a seat beside me, titans. We'll talk music and sports and the joys of each others company. Our laughs will usher the dark thoughts out of the room and into the calm night, and we'll hope they lose their way out there. Their eyesight is poor and if we laugh loud enough they'll swear it isn't us they're hearing. Ah, if it were all so easy...

If the world stopped turning, would you hope it stopped during the day or the night?