This is a melancholy sort of poem, but just so y’all know, I’m not sad. In fact, I am very much at peace and I have great hope for the future. I do, however, often look longingly at the way things used to be. I think we all tend to do that. It’s spring. Be happy.

 Those Times Ago 

Eyes closed, I smiled and imagined

A full moon hanging low in the sky

Looking like a shiny pearl button

On a dandy cowboy’s shirt

Sequin stars glittered

On a blouse of blue-black silk

While in the distance cattle lowed

And coyotes yipped and howled

When I opened my eyes

It all faded to cold hard truth

The hot dry grass on my neck

And burning tears I wouldn’t let fall

City traffic whirred nearby

Distant sirens pierced the night

A neighbor screamed angrily

At her laughing children

I gazed up at the dingy sky

Closed my eyes and tried to recall

Those times so long ago

When hope still lived within me

Times when stars twinkled

The man in the moon smiled

And parents, tired from their day

Murmured and chuckled softly

Gliding in the old wooden swing on the porch

Smiling, looking forward to tomorrow

While in the moon-shadow of a tree

Children tittered secret laughter

I wondered when the world had changed

And wished we could go back

To when life was simple; those times ago

When hope was more than just a word

Copyright © 2011 C. Mashburn