When I Remember

When I remember those happy days
When little children would gather,
Outside the huts in the market square
Singing, dancing and playing
I begin to wonder how it all happened

The world got better and bitter
The people became more religious but ungodly
The youths gained aggression and violence
The elders are finding solutions at a tortoise’s pace
The harvest of the field has indeed, perished

When I remember those happy days
When the old had enough peace of mind
That they would sit by the roadside
Drinking fresh coconut water and making merry
I begin to wonder why it all happened

When I remember those happy days
When mothers would toss their babies into the calm air
While aunts will chase the older ones around the farmland
Having fun while fetching dry firewood
I begin to wish the hands of time were reversible

The palaces of our rulers are storerooms of gold
The laws of the land have become uneven
They are bent daily with the rich man’s tools of bribery
While the voices of the populace have become noises
They sound like choruses sang only by cursed horses

But when again, I remember those happy days
When young men would gather to wrestle
Under the slowly setting sun
Before many men lost control to megasybaritic living
I begin to hope that someway, somehow
We will experience again, what we once enjoyed


Written by: James Lisandro Junior