The Dreamers Don’t Survive

Life is not just one closed door. It’s a maze of them. But if your dreams still ache… some part of you is still alive.

All I’ve learned growing up is this:

You let go of dreams to make space for the ache

Every time you dream too hard

Life crushes it down, turns it to dust and mistake

They say reality hurts because you want too much

But that’s not true

It hurts because

You never knew where the right door was

And every hallway led nowhere new

Sometimes a door will creak open

But never the one that you prayed for

You wander like smoke in a maze made of walls

Trying to remember what you came here for

Ooooh I miss the days of young love

Before love got tired and old

Before we grew into people

Who traded our fire for cold

We forget we once had wonder

We once looked up, not down

Now we chase comfort

And become the furniture

In lives we never wrote down

We find partners who challenge us least

Safe hands, dull sparks, no flame

We settle for days that blur into weeks

Until we can’t even miss who we became

The ones who still dream don’t last long here

They burn too fast or break

The world is no place for a heart that hopes

It will starve or bend or shake

You wake up, and you’ve lost something

You didn’t notice falling away

The voice that once whispered: you’re meant for more

Now just begs you to stay

Ooooh I miss the reckless heart I had

The girl who would run, not crawl

Now I file my dreams in silence

And become someone I don’t know at all

We forget we once had purpose

We once believed in sky

Now we live for what's in front of us

And let the rest float by

I used to swear I'd never fold

Never bow to life this way

But somewhere between the deadlines

And the bills I had to pay

I stopped reaching for the summit

And started clinging to the ground

And maybe that’s just growing up

But it feels like being drowned

Ooooh I miss the ache of wanting

I miss the fire, the fight

But the dreamers don’t survive here long

They vanish into night

We forget we once had stories

We forget we were alive

But if you still remember

Then maybe… you’ll survive

They said growing up meant becoming wise

But it feels more like forgetting how to fly

You stop asking “What if?”, you just nod and try

To find joy in the safety of smaller skies

You trade poetry for schedules

Sunsets for screens

And love becomes comfort

Instead of the stuff of dreams

They say reality hurts when one door is closed

But life is worse than that and colder

It's not one door, but a maze of them

Each locked tighter as you get older

And just when you stop hoping

One door cracks - strange and unplanned

Not the one you prayed for

Just the one that didn’t slam

You step through without wanting

But too tired to resist

And suddenly that becomes your life

And all the rest - dismissed

We forget we once had wonder

Looked up, not down or through

Now we blend into our surroundings

And call that growing too

But if somewhere deep inside you

That old fire still survives

Then dream, even if they call you foolish

It means you're still alive

And though this world breaks the brightest first

And takes more than it gives

If your dreams still ache inside your chest

Then some part of you still lives

© 2025 Inaba Tarek