The Days I Never Had

I miss the days I never had

I miss simplicity

Where A plus B equals C

Without it being misogyny

I miss the years where hope

Was handed out at eighteen

Where hard work and tenacity

Got twenty-one hundred square feet

I miss a structured path

A certain clarity

Your identity your fruitful family

Praying and voting morally

I miss when times were true

Musicians original and blue

A raunchy guitar at a local bar

If talented could become a star

I miss a judge of character

Required intuition

The ability to read a map

And tend to the neighbor's engine

The times I live in now

No one knows what to be

Or how to behave

Or what to believe

All of the heartache and pain

In the World

Is in your pocket, on the screen

Chaos, Confusion

and Disillusionment

Hope rationed for the Elite

I miss the days I never had

I miss simplicity

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I grew up where the world wasn't in our pockets...
we were lucky to find out what was going on outside of our Block in the Bronx.
The nightly news gave us travel...
a much simpler time...rotary phones, manual typewriters, card catalogues...
and a highway of information that was only in the planning stages.
I surely do miss simplicity myself.
I still have never owned a Cell Phone...and I still read books that I actually hold in my hand and turn real pages.
and original musicians? movies that aren't all remakes?
where are the ideas? oh, no one wants to think that hard anymore.
excellent piece...
j.

[VelvetPotato]

Never owned a cell phone? Props to you. :) thank you for your unwavering support, as always, j.

[barleygirl]

This is the best poem about looking back I've seen & there are tons of such messages being posted! You hit on such powerful heart-stopping examples of what's missing these days: "Where hard work and tenacity got twenty-one hundred square feet" (killer truth!) . . . "Praying and voting morally" (I almost fell off my chair!) As an old person, I'm very sorry that young people are missing the amazing ways that life could be, all the things we enjoyed at a younger age, clearly not part of the tableau anymore.

I blame it on overpopulation. Too many people means (1) too many regulations/laws trying to enforce fairness/harmony/survival and (2) impossible to please/acknowledge/appreciate everyone's point of view, with more & more feeling left out & meaningless & disgruntled in the fray. Your poem goes further than anything I've read to identify the subtle ways that important stuff is missing from today's sad scenes (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Chris Shaw]

Times have certainly changed Velvet. My earlier years weren't as complex as living today is. Technology rules everything now. Also we live in times where everyone appears to take offence. Kindness then though is still the same as kindness now, so I try to remember that. Also living with Covid hasn't helped. There does seem to be more chaos and disillusionment. Hopeful for the future? Well I am an optimist at heart :)

Chris

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Love love love it
Well done

[VelvetPotato]

Thank you Julie!!