Innocence Retained

Desparately clinging to innocence long past
In hopes that you can hold to some inkling of it,
No matter how far gone.
You can move forward
with that same youthful exuberance
In a body well older,
And pray to your god that it lives on inside you
As it tries,
With an unfailing knack,
To leave you in this world's dust,
Maturity dragging you- kicking and screaming- all the way.