Shades...

As I was walking around on the sidewalk..... I saw some children playing.. Yelling and cheering... A little boy crying over a toy.. To his dad..
A mother walking taking the hand of her little girl who is barely at the length of her knees.. And who was looking at the world with such wonder in her eyes...

All I could think of is, how it is like to be a child...

Childhood is the forever kingdom, a kingdom where everything and anything is possible... The one place that nobody dies..
Everything is new... Everyday is Christmas..

Childhood is not being able to sleep the night before we go to the beach because of the overwhelming happiness..

Pure feelings..
Bold dreams...
The world by then is full of colours, sparks and joy...

Turning my sight from this colorful picture and gazing at the adults on the very same sidewalk...

All I could see is lost faces... Emotionless features.. Cold eyes... 

Shades... Walking, hurrying to catch something.. May be late for work, or late for some kind of commitment they have in their lives... May be catching nothing? Running chasing a mirage?

What happens through their lives to make them shift from being so colorful and playful to blacks and whites,,,

Responsibly may be?
Burdens of life? Bills?

I keep thinking hard of what makes people look like empty shells when they grow up..
I thought it might be responsibilities, may be putting food on the table, personal burdens and pains, the long journey of chasing dreams.. Losses...

May be because now they know that not everything is possible,,,
Not every where you look is light..
No more easy sparks,,,

May be because they realized that there is death and loss.. 

And that everything comes to an end... 

Not what they thought as children where everything just goes on and on...

Or may be these people I have seen are just tired and tomorrow they will be fine, 

I just caught them in a bad moment.. Who knows?

I decided to let that matter go, because I will never be able to tell what was the reason of the black and white versions I just witnessed..

Days later, I looked at myself, saw my reflection in the mirror ... 

And I am froze in my place as my picture was just shades... 

Just like the ones on the street..