The Perfect Life by John Koethe

As we grow up and learn about ourselves and the world that surrounds us the magic we used to find in simple things is gone. The world seems to lose half its color and the things we used to associate with happiness and fun lose their special touch, turning into everyday activities. In this poem John Koethe  illustrates his life this way and conveys to the reader a certain desperation to find something more, something that brings back the perfection in his life. 
I believe perfection in life doesn't come from the perfect circumstances but from the bright moments that make a difference in daily life. Perfection depends on the person who is striving for it because it may mean something different for everyone. To me perfection is freedom.
Nobody is free in this world. The greatest enemy to freedom is the person looking for it.You  may set the bar to be free, but by doing so you create expectations for yourself, the same expectations you wanted to be free of in the first place. This is, what I believe John Koethe wanted the reader to see in his poem, a certain wish to be free and see life in technicolor as kids do. A wish for magic to come back and for repetitive routines to end. In many ways I think the author just wishes to be a child again just as most people do.
When we are young we all wish to be grown-ups and have a more complicated life. We spend our days pretending to be older and wiser, we see adults as all powerful beings. Beings that could solve all our problems and make everything perfect.
Now as adults (or at least  on our way to become adults) we wish our problems were make-believe as they once were, we wish life was as simple as once was but most of all, we wish the world was as colorful as it once seemed to be.