Looking for a poem about the way things used to be

[mum4jenn]

From time to time people have posted poems about the way life used to be when they were kids. You know with references to lightning bugs...sitting on the porch...playing until dark and parents not being afraid that their kids would be harmed. That type of thing. Does anyone have anything like that??? If so please post it or send it to me along with the authors credit.

A co-worker needs something like this for a project at her church and she asked me for help. Thanks in advance.

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I really need something like this too for a project for my dad! thanks for posting this.

 

[C.Ann]

Don't know if this will quite fit the bill - and I don't know who the author is as I received this in an email a couple of years ago - but here it is, for what it's worth......

It really touched me the first time I read it - and it still does...

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Subject: I Want To Be Five Again

To Whom It May Concern:

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an ADULT.

I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a five year old again.

I want to go to MacDonald's and think it is a four star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks.

I want to think M&M's are better than money, because you can eat them.

I want to play kickball during recess and paint with watercolors in art.

I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summers day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple.

When all you knew were colors, addition tables and simple nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

When all you knew was happy because you didn't know all the things that should make you worried and upset.

I want to think that the world is fair. That everyone in it is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible.

Somewhere in my youth.....I matured and I learned too much. I learned of nuclear weapons, war, prejudice, starvation and abused children.

I learned of lies, unhappy marriages, suffering, illness, pain and death.

I learned of a world where men left their families to go and fight for our country, and returned only to end up living on the streets and begging for their next meal.

I learned of a world where children knew how to kill....and did.

Whatever happened to the time when we thought that everyone would live forever, because we didn't grasp the concept of death?

When we though the worst thing in the world was if someone took the jump rope from you or picked you last for kickball?

I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life and be overly excited by little things again.

I want to return to the days when reading was fun and music was clean.

When television was used to report the news or for family entertainment and not to promote sex, violence and deceit.

I remember being naive and thinking that everyone was happy because I was.

I would walk on the beach and only think of the sand between my toes and the prettiest seashell I could find.

I would spend my afternoons climbing trees and riding my bike.

I didn't worry about time, bills or where I was going to find the money to fix my car.

I used to wonder what I was going to do or be when I grew up, not worry about what I'll do if this doesn't work out.

I want to live simple again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, or worry about doctor bills, gossip, illness and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind and making angels in the snow.

I want to be five again....................................

 

[kadaten]

Got this one in an email the other day...

Paul Harvey Writes:
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.
I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.
And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.
When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.
I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.
On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

 

[Manda1219]

Kadaten, that was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing

 

[kadaten]

Originally posted by Manda1219
Kadaten, that was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing

Yeah, I really like it, too. Kinda reminds us that it really is good to learn all those "life lessons" and not be so protected from anything and everything...how else are we to really experience life to its fullest? Life is about experiences, both good and bad....we learn from all of them. How can you know what true happiness is when you've never known sadness?

 

[Manda1219]

Originally posted by kadaten
Yeah, I really like it, too. Kinda reminds us that it really is good to learn all those "life lessons" and not be so protected from anything and everything...how else are we to really experience life to its fullest? Life is about experiences, both good and bad....we learn from all of them. How can you know what true happiness is when you've never known sadness?

I agree 100%. So many kids my age have EVERYTHING handed to them and don't appreciate any of it.
I work to pay for my own college, and am driving a 10 year old Saturn with over 160,000 miles on it (Saving money for something much nicer), and I can relate to many of the items on that list. To me, life couldn't be better-I have sadnesses, and have had sadness in the past-without knowing sadness and struggle, I don't think I would appreciate what I have now

 

[mum4jenn]

Thanks so much. I think these will be great for her!!