Do You Remember Being Innocent

The question hangs, like a rusty nail,

“Do you remember, innocence’s veil?”

A chipped and tarnished memory,

Of something lost, that used to be.

The bright-eyed stare, the trusting hand,

Lost in the shifting, barren sand.

A world unburdened, clean and new,

A distant dream, I never knew.

For in its place, a hardened shell,

Guards wounds that time cannot quite quell.

A knowledge bitter, bought with pain,

Washes the canvas clean again.

So no, I can’t recall that light,

That banished shadows from the night.

Innocence, a forgotten name,

Consumed by sorrow, guilt, and shame.