The poem "On Turning Ten" is written from the point of view of a boy just turning, of course, ten. Interestingly, between Billy Collin's birth and the year the poem was published he would be 57 years old.
The text can carry almost two different meanings. The literal reading of the poem speaks of a small boy finally hitting a point in his life where all the things he enjoyed while young have to be left behind as he ages. The second and maybe implied meaning of the piece might be a commentary about how humans can feel a pleasant nostalgia about our younger years in general, seeing as how Collin published the writing when he was quite a bit older.
In the first stanza, we see the boy speak of his coming age as if it's a sickness of the soul. Phrases like "mumps of the psyche" and "chicken pox of the soul" conjur an image that the child may be stressed so much about his turning ten that he could be feeling actual physical symptoms.
The second stanza seems to have the speaker addressing adults as his audience. He tells them that despite being so young and having maybe many more in his life he still feels a longing for the games and imaginary play. Older people have forgotten what it was like to live as an Arabian wizard, a soldier, or prince. He alludes to life being so much more complex than the vivid memories he has of being a toddler.
A third stanza gives us a picture of him sitting at home by a window in the fading afternoon light on the side of his tree house, a representation of childhood's fading glory. The boy's bike's dark blue speed is drained and somehow lifeless.
The last stanza concludes by telling us the sadness felt by the speaker as he continues to walk through life. Saying goodbye to imaginary friends and the carefree attitude of a youth, he "falls" upon the troubles and pain of pre-adolescence pictured as one falling upon a sidewalk and bleeding.
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I think you did a good job, but I felt that it might have been a bit much
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