PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

while come forth yet another new day

still yon yesteryear onwards burns

brilliantly, in the mystified minds of those

so much older than you or I

reaping luster in the finely aged memories of all

proud grandpas alike

with their grandchildren thrown gingerly a top their

rickedy knees

stories of fond days passed are told

through the vehicle of vaporous voices booming to

please and appease

rambunctious youngsters listen closely to stories of

depression, the great war and of sweated brows and over

worked backs that laid rail tie tracks upon tough

terrain for the eastern rail road

and no prouder than a finely tuned piano owned could

slightly tall stories joyfully through the eyes of the

hope to still be young come to be told

visions of high and grand adventures that young men

soon to be like them their very selves once upon a long

ago time had

as these now bifocal clad papas recall their young man's

lives once so lively lived they also try to share some tidbits

of insight about their grandchildren 's beloved

dad

grandpa's very own son, some born more than ten years before

we ever heard the word Vietnam

playing on streets that were still safe

swimming in waters yet polluted and sleeping nights in

houses whose door remained unlocked and racial feathers were still

relatively unruffled and tempers calm or so these grandpas thought

yet for the mere color of his skin many men were unknown though

to most, executed

what is all too quietly taken away from these pleasant

afternoons in the hearts of each in a word or two is so very difficult

now to describe

but for perhaps one of many like this very freedom

(minus the kept quiet racial slaughter) that is who so many young men

and women (blacks and whites alike) have valiantly fought for in battle

and so selflessly died

life was once upon a time in America indeed something

to behold and we can still do so but only now vicariously through stories

brought once more to life

by tales of sat and told to us by 'The Few Remaining Old'...

(written Oct 25, 1993 am)