"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

[bob, small b. aka invs]

it was a different world then. the military wasn't an option, it was a lottery. war was not only unpopular, it was an outrage. generations were at war with each other. there was hope and delusion. revolution was in the air, it just never made it past the air. at 20, i met the girl i would marry a year later and who would be with me to this day. at 20, i was planning my escape to canada if the draft called me. at 20, i left college and became a working stiff. it was a good year, but a scary year to be alive. thanks for the memories.

[Larry Dyson]

YES...ONE MORE YEAR ABOVE GROUND...and alocohol became legal for 18year olds..and marriage at 21...who in their right mind knows what they want at 21 ? certainly alive was a good thing that many never shared...Nixon removed...who knows the reality of that scenario...and preparation for pullouts in Cambodia and Vietnam...what a hellatious time in so many lives...I am glad you were able to live thru" IT "friend...ty , Chris

[Judy Ponceby]

And so we do. Excellent work as always Chris :) Can feel the history of looking back you have penned so well. Made me a bit melancholy this morning.

[Emily B]

your wisdom is rare

and welcome on a saturday morning

[masqued_muse]

This just grabbed me, sir. Good imagery and all. You are aware. But that ENDING..was almost MY DEMISE!! I am stunned.