On Top of the Slide

As a child,

I would climb,

to the top

          of the slide.

I would make a house,

          a kingdom,

Looking up to the sky and

across the playground,

My imagination

          running free and wild.

Now,

I hate going up there.

I don't know when it changed

          or why,

But now the spaces between the bars

          Are too big

The people

          too dangerous

The height

          too high

My mind and body

          paralyzed

by the possibilities.