Of Days Gone Past

A true tale of my past inspired by a song rediscovered. Put under journal because I don;t know where else to put it.

As Time takes its toll and autumn of Life approaches much more rapidly than I would wish it seems that long forgotten memories of my youth surface more frequently. All it takes some familiar vision, or song, something which takes me back to the past.

One morning last week, the sun creeping slowly above the horizon, I was leaving work. The temperature was already in the high 70�s so I had all four windows down as I left the parking lot. I searched thru the radio dial listening for some decent rock, the heavier the better, but unfortunately there are no stations here in Dallas that plays what I like best.

Stopping at a red light I continued to search to no avail, then just about to give up I paused at an oldies station as familiar cords caught my attention. An old favorite! Much to the disgust of the woman in the next car I turned up the volume and began to sing those suddenly remembered words. Now I can�t carry a tune even with a five gallon bucket in each hand but to me it doesn�t matter.

�Hey, where did we go
Days when the rains came?
Down in the hollow
Playing a new game,
Laughing and a-running, hey, hey,
Skipping and a-jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our, our hearts a-thumping
And you, my brown-eyed girl,�



The light changed and off I went lost in memories and song. Visions of hot summer days and warm summer nights, that fateful summer, 1967, filled my mind as I sang loudly and off-key. The impromptu gatherings out at Edwin Warner Park, the beer, the girls, and friends, and couples wandering off into the dark, it was a near perfect summer. No more college classes and a not so disruptive job that put a few dollars in my pocket there was little that could have been more perfect.

Then there you were that second weekend after school was out! I can still see you sitting on the side bench of that picnic table. The golden glow cast by the bon fire danced over your face. I was entranced in that instant! The spell you cast drew me like a net, not that there was any resistance on my part. Never had I been simply attracted just to a pretty face, though you were so beautiful, it was�I don�t know what it was other that the mystery, the magic of the moment. The minute I sat beside you and introduced myself I was hooked and in that moment it seemed we were like the final two pieces of a puzzle that completed the picture. From that night on we were near inseparable, spending every moment possible together.

�You, my brown-eyed girl.
Whatever happened
To tuesday and so slow
Going down to the old mine with a
Transistor radio.
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hide behind a rainbows wall,
Slipping and a-sliding
All along the waterfall
With you, my brown-eyed girl,
You, my brown-eyed girl.

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
La dee dah.�


The parties, friends, the bright sunny days spent roaming here and there, the whole gang floating down the Harpeth River on inner tubes; the canoe trips, the picnics that were feasts of pot luck just whatever everyone could bring, all the youthful joy of summer and friends.

But it was the joy of you and I that is remembered most. Those days of our excursions alone, our private picnics in some isolated, shady spot; the roaming over the country side one moment playing like two little children without a care in the world. Then there were the times where splashing in a creek, all wet and muddy, would turn into a passionate embrace. How often we made love right there on the spot. It really didn�t matter at all other than the fact that we were alone.

Those perfect breasts that fit so well in my hands; hard n*****s against my chest, the firm checks that drove me mad, how perfectly we fit together completing that puzzle! How often we lay there wrapped in each others arms afterward in the sun or in the warm night, temporarily sated, sweaty and gasping for breath.

Then all that was shattered by that single letter, that fateful �Greetings!� Those last few weeks of desperate passion; the rage of your parents for spending your nights with me and knowing their baby girl was now a woman and our decision to face them that is one memory I could do without.

Then came the fear and the horror once I left. From Benning to Bragg, learning the weapons and the methods to kill, the methods of hand, wire, and knife; the psychological reconstruction of a mind in those hidden places all in preparation unrecognized duties in a far off place. The next few years past passed slowly seemingly without end, yet I came back, not the same, but I was safe and home.

So hard to find my way
Now that Im all on my own.
I saw you just the other day,
My, how you have grown!
Cast my memory back there, lord,
Sometime Im overcome thinking about
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium
With you, my brown-eyed girl,
You, my brown-eyed girl.

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
Laying in the green grass
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
Dee dah dee dah dee dah dee dah dee dah dee
Sha la la la la la la la la la la la la
Dee dah la dee dah la dee dah la
D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d...�


So now here I sit here wondering
�Where are you now?�
My Brown Eyed Girl


"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song written and recorded in 1967 by Northern Irish singer-songwriter, Van Morrison. It was first released in May 1967 on the album Blowin' Your Mind!

Reviews

[Winter McPherson]

Such a captivating piece. Pulls one right into your happy, summer days and the wonder of being in love. Then the shattering of all that. Then you bring it back around to where it started, with you wondering about days and people of the past.

[Brette Medb]

Beautiful memories... this was well done and I think a journal style suited this perfectly.

Oh and by the way I LOVE that song, I swear it's the only song that talks about us Brown Eyed Girls : )


Brette

[Ruby Moon]

such a sweet memory...
but a question...if you know where is your brown eyed girl now
what will you do?

[[untitled]]

I am smiling, smiling, smiling.................................sweet, sweet memories. {Extremely well done.]

[Ron B]

Lord, ShadowWolf, this beautiful recollection tapped so many same nerves. I had a lot less going on in my personal life and my mindset combined with my evolving military status was a definite turn off in the relationship arena. Very well done.