You must pick an age to stay at forever. The man in the purple hat said to me.
Shall you pick an age when you were wise, or shall you be care free?
I pondered this question, looking around at the crowd.
“What are the terms, to which I am allowed?”

You can choose to be a child, so innocent and free.
You can choose to be an elder, who has seen all there is to see.
You can choose to be absorbed in yourself, then pick to be a teen.
Or, you can choose to be slightly in between.

So I looked around, left and looked around right,
And saw with a sudden utter fright.
Our teachers were children instructing their class to play.
Our children were elders, sleeping through the day.

Then I looked to my left, and saw such a beautiful sight.
There is a soldier as a child, teaching peace instead of fight.
There is an elder reliving the birth of his son,
A mother is revisiting her youthful fun.

So maybe this man in the purple hat had a great idea,
For maybe we get so wrapped up everything becomes unclear.
Maybe our children are the ones, who know it all,
And it is our elders who are jaded by the rise and the fall.

If you could go back and have one more day,
What would you do to, and what would you say?
What words that were left unsaid would you say with ease?
And who would you grow up, trying to please?

Would you be concerned with money, would you be concerned with fame?
Would you let the crowd rule your life, would you drive yourself insane?
Would you sit on the beach and watch the tide come in and out,
Or would you climb the highest building and let your lungs just shout?

So I told the man in the purple hat to keep my age the same,
Because at an age so young, yet old, I still can make my name.
I still can choose my path, and still can live off of dreams.
I still can find a star and make a wish, I still can make it seem nothing like it seems.

So as our youth dies out, and we are met with an age so wise,
When the children look at me, they need to look me in my eyes
So I can show them what it’s like to have achieved this and that,
And as I take my final breath, thank the man in the purple hat.