Poem: Ginga's Lament

Ginga’s Lament


Remember the old days when our house
was the place they all wanted to be?
Where they never would run out of cookies,
where all were contented and free?
Where a nap could be taken - or not!
…And with so many things to explore!
Sadly, those days have bypassed us.
They’re, plainly, not here any more!
Wet slip ‘n’ slides in the summer…
with baby girl turned bowling pin,
knocked down ’accidentally’ by brother,
viewed on film, again and again!
Halloween parties and birthdays,
Easter egg hunts, by the score...
Football games and award days,
I miss them; it seems, more and more.
Remember the late nights of TV
with kids laying flat on the floor?
Thick quilts to cushion their slumber?
When did that stop, I implore?
And late nights of telling ghost stories,
of scaring each other and such.
The bonfires we had in the winter…
those things I am missing so much!
The golf cart rides in the pasture.
The reckless abandon of some…
crashing the cart into fences…
‘Accidentally’ having some fun.
Still, on holidays, we gather.
The grandkids are grown, don’t you see?
They’re all here… but things are so different.
The constants are just you and me!
Hugs are exchanged and ‘I LOVE YOUs!’
The rituals held close to our hearts.
But no one is asking for cookies.
And, oh, I am missing that part!
Whole summers were spent here together.
HERE was the first choice of all.
How did it all go so quickly?
When did our kingdom fall?


June Kellum (Ginga)
July 31, 2005