𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗬: "I Wish I Could Be a Kid Again" by Jhenielle Perez

 

Cartoon by: Jemima Martha Seguerra
Published by: Beatrice Isabel Miole
Date Published: August 17, 2026
Time Published: 10:07am

Category: Poetry
Theme: Even the stars grow weary watching children rush toward adulthood, only to spend the rest of their lives longing for the childhood they left behind.

Back when I was a child,

I thought being a teenager was easy.

I thought growing up meant reaching the sky,

never knowing it could come crashing down on me.

I used to count birthdays

like they were little victories.

But I didn't know each one

would quietly bury pieces of the child

I used to be.

Somewhere between wishing 

to be older overnight 

and waking up to become one,

the stars had already begun 

watching with tired eyes.

And no one warned me

that the deepest wounds

wouldn't come from strangers.

They would come from the ones

I trusted first.

The same hands

that once taught me how to walk

would one day make me question

whether I deserved to stand at all.

They never sounded loud

through the house,

yet somehow

they never stopped echoing inside me.

"You're worthless."

"Why can't you be like them?"

"You'll never be enough."

It's strange how the people who were meant 

to teach me what love sounded like

left me wondering whether I was ever

a child to be loved,

or just another expectation

waiting to disappoint them.

So I smiled,

not because I was happy,

but because tears

only seemed to make things worse.

Eventually,

silence became easier than explaining.

Because every word I tried to give

returned to me already misunderstood.

On the nights

I couldn't carry the weight anymore,

I looked up

the same way I did as a child.

The stars were still there.

Only now,

they seemed exhausted—

too exhausted.

Perhaps they've spent centuries watching children

reach for tomorrow,

never knowing that one day

their tomorrows would ache for yesterday.

And if I could speak to the child I used to be,

I wouldn't promise that everything would be okay.

I'd only ask them to stay little

just a little longer.

Because perhaps

that's why the stars look so tired.

They've watched this wish

repeat itself

since the beginning of time—

children begging

to grow up,

and adults

spending the rest of their lives

searching the night sky for the childhood

they never knew they were leaving behind.