Innocence

We'll start this poem with a word
which, in this context, seems absurd,
but once it's spoken, then you've heard,
the meaning of this absurd word.

Innocence:
A concept lost.
I try to find it, then I'm tossed
Between the melancholy thoughts
that calculate this concept's cost.

It damaged my ability
to see the world surrounding me,
as adults on the stage or screen
portrayed to me this lovely scene
of cherry trees and love and dreams.

But now I'm grown and full of age
and all of its accompanying rage.
Would I be lonely if I'd strayed
and took the time to make mistakes?
What part of me did innocence save?

A damaged psyche, pad and pen,
A damaged ego, probed and bent,
An aimless sense of all my sins,
The remnants of my innocence.