I didn’t intend to post this poem today, as it is Saturday and we all know that traditionally that it is one of the slow blog readership days. I was going to put up a few of the “Reflections/Interjections/Recollections” to start the weekend off, (a cop-out) and let it go at that. When I picked out this particular “Reflection” it reminded me of a poem that I finished a couple of weeks ago. So, slow readership Saturday or not, here it comes. In order to appreciate this poem at all, I believe that you should have read, seen, or at least heard of “Peter Pan” written by J.M. Barrie, a Scottish novelist and playwrite, in 1904. It was a yearly broadcast on TV when I was growing up and I looked forward to it, for what seemed to be weeks ahead of time. But, I do think that most of you/us have some knowledge of the premise of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys,( I don’t want to grow up, I don’t want to go to school) living in Never-Never Land. (Along with, of course Tinkerbelle and Captain Hook, et al.)
With that in mind, please enjoy both of the offerings, this Saturday morning,
Jake.
The days of our youth,
are as sweet as vermouth.
But, unlike the wine,
we bitter with time.
From too much exposure,
to truth.
***
A Lost Boy Looks Back
I spent a time of my life
with the lost boys.
Yeah, the boys and “Pan”
and me.
Thinking “Never Never Land”
to be forever and ever land,
and we’d all stay young
and free.
*
Where pirates and indians
were a commonplace sight,
along with “Tinkerbelle” fairies
and such.
Where fantasy be reality
and reality mere fantasy,
and we would travel
on ‘fairy dust’.
*
With no thought to a mom or a dad,
as orphans we were, of our choosing.
Adventures awaited us daily,
and off we would go at our will.
But, as sure as a croc
can swallow a clock,
they’d soon take us on over
the hill.
*
I woke up one morning
with bills to be paid,
and a wife and a child
to feed.
Where did it all go,
when life was just so,
and I had only my wants
but no needs?
*
When work had no place
on my schedule at all.
And everything, seemed
to be free.
If I could return to those days
and not have my now ways,
would I, any happier,
be?
*
If I could have back my youth
and those carefree old times,
I wonder if I’d be willing,
to trade.
For the now is fulfilling
though maybe less thrilling.
So to memory, the “Lost Boys,”
will now fade.
***
Jack Downing
May 2012
Copyright© Jack Downing, aka Jake @poemsandponderings.wordpress.com. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted or disseminated in any manner without the expressed written consent of the author. JRD 6/9/12
reminder of the childhood days,living our lives with the books and the heroes in their way..
The days of no responsibilities, for some the teenage years, for others….Well, somewhat later in life..
Thank you for taking the time to read and to comment, Soumyav.
I sometimes miss the carefree days of youth, too, but the benefits of ‘growing up” have outweighed those youthful escapades lately. Guess I have learned to be happy where I am at. I always have the memories!
So, so true.. I also have the aches and the pains and the scars to show for those “carefree” times. But, it was funnnnnnnn.
Would care to share my Peter Pan poem. Just google carldagostino just one wish or carldagostino peter pan. It was my first published poem and made page 1 of the anthology. Regards.
I think… the days of my now are not less thrilling. Between now..and then was not so nice I would have given anything to go back. I don’t think I can grow up .. not that I have tried so hard.. no wait, I have. I’m a lost girl with a gaggle of merry munchkins… in the youth of my old age. Or something. I loved both of these.
Lizzie
And that is what the poem is all about. So many people I talk to say, that while being young is great and sometimes enviable, most would not want to do it over again. It would seem that no matter how “tough” life appears to us sometimes, we wouldn’t want to start over. Best wishes to you and your “merry munchkin band”
Jake..