"When I Was Twenty..."

Saturday morning.  A day to go see witches and wizards - again. the children grown beyond their make-believe and on the edge of what now?  Some to college - but they and all the others will soon pay for the clues, we always do pay for clues it seems.

"When I Was Twenty..."

Outdoor cafe
coffee
open journal
flowing ink
the world flowing by...
awaiting friends to pause.

When I was twenty -
Beaches held gunfire
roaring ears...
pulses measured in mini
heart attacks
and legs so heavy
you remembered how to pray.

Drinking was illegal
but we all cheated
often
and without any class to it.
We imagined -
our selves,
legends-in-our-time -
GIANTS doing as giant do
being as GIANTS are...
children of lesser-gods.

...and we died hard
for every sin in man's litany of omission.
We were right, wrong,
and every shade of meaningless in-between.
God cried, we cried,
they cried -
everything cries,
when it must
and in its own time.

We had heroes too -

old school
life's school
people that somehow had MORE

when so very few had ANY...
Heroes.

Twenty was a good year
- a very good year -
to become twenty-one.

Chris

 

Author's Note

We mark era's endings as we can.

Reviews

[asdarkeyesclose]

When I was twenty -
Beaches held gunfire

love all the reflection in this and that stanza in particular.

[Sleeping Maiden]

Nice! I love the history here. It's going back to the past.. quite fascinating. I liked this piece. And gosh.. i'm turning 20 tomorrow! lol. so this caught my attention. lol. =)

[_mal]

shows me another life

[Tate Morgan]

Ah to be immortal and 21 again

[deeps]

such wisdom and very creative, enjoyed!

[Amy Bumpas]

I love this..the sway and tug of the words. I remember when I was twenty...
I met my soulmate/kindred spirit..he wasn't good for me, but I sure learned
a lot from him...mostly when my alter ego was born.

[Robin]

ah yes , the changes

[Ed Hart]

when i wan one and twenty i heard no wise man say
not a blessed single thing to help me on my way

[Muse]

What a clever way of writing about a period of time. If you can look back with no regrets.........then congrats, it was well lived. :)