Before I Knew...

I remember when I was a kid—
Summer days stretched wide with light,
Running wild without a care,
Screaming joy into the wind,
Giggling like laughter was breath itself.

I remember the smile that lit my face,
Untouched by the troubles
quietly circling the grown-up world.
The night sky felt like a friend,
The beach, a kingdom—
sand stuck to my skin like stars.

Evenings were a festival then,
My brother, my friends,
our laughter chasing the dusk.
I crushed on a boy too old to notice me,
played cricket, hide-and-seek, tennikoit—
games that made my heart race
like it was the only thing that mattered.

But even then—
when I was still a child—
life was already changing its tune.
The hush behind closed doors grew louder.
The innocence I danced in
wore thinner with each passing year.
Still, I danced, I pranced—
but something in me knew:
my feet would never move
quite the same way again.