When I was young and free
Slate clean, bare kneed, immortal to the mind
There were long hard icy winters
Freezing landscapes, lasting months.
Snowmen, carrot nosed with eyes of coal.
Kids tobogganing, screaming in delight
Racing downhill upon upturned milk crates.
Long bright summers full of wonder
Which never seeming to end.
We made tree camps hidden in the woods
Played cowboys and Indians.
And thought girls were rather silly
For not liking football, frogs and mice
And always wanting to play kiss chase.
Sixpence pocket money left on the mantelpiece
For Saturday morning cinema
Where we sucked ice lollies in crowded stalls
Cheering on Hop-a-long Cassidy and Roy Rogers
And booing the black-hatted villains.
Sweets were on ration, gobstoppers, fizzy saucers
Bulleyes, sticky toffee, chocolate bars all one penny.
Home in a street with no doors locked
And friendly neighbours always ready to help.
Bank holidays to Brighton to sit on pebble beaches
Paddling in the warm sea, building sand castles
Eating fish and chips from newspapers.
Chewing on sticks of pink peppermint rock
Looking to see if the name went right through.
Cinema with the family on a Wednesday night
With a hot meat pie each on the way home
And carried high on my father's shoulders
Over the field at the back of our house.
My mother's sweet kisses and hugs
The stories read by my father at bedtime
These were the precious things when I was young.
Colin Ian Jeffery
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-i-was-young-10/
