My Childhood Dream

When I was a child

and adults asked me

what I

wanted to be

when I

grew up

I never said that

I wanted to be the president

or that I wanted to be on television

or like my mother

or my father.

I did not wish to be wealthy like the

family down the street.

When I was little

I imagined that,

when I grew up,

I would have wings

or fishscales and a mermaid tail.

I imagined my skin would change color

or be every color

all at once.

Teenage me wished

to be invisible at times,

breathe fire at others.

Twenty-something me wanted

to be able to speak

to animals and trees and flowers

and also have the ability

to change the weather

as easily as I changed my mind.

Funny how now

this late thirties me thinks

I am well on my way to being

exactly what that little child me

wanted to be,

For I have become

an artist.