SUNNIER DAZE

SUNNIER DAZE

Was it always sunnier back then?

Days as long, sweet and lanquid
as a strawberry Twizzler

Coaster wagons as red and gleaming
as a crate of Macintosh apples

In the background, the barking
of unseen mutts

The staccato hammering of roof repairs,
distant and  intense, like the stuttering reports
from a firing range

Lawn sprinklers twirling like ballerinas,
inviting us to rush headlong
into their cooling waters

Streets churning with baseball games
and shiny Schwinns, their spokes
chattering from baseball cards
swatting their spokes

Sidewalk lemonade stands
in daily duels with roller skaters
who whirr past hop-scotchers,
like wheeled angels

The universal law of summer
declared the harder we played,
the less it rained

The more we perspired,
 the more intense the fun

and maybe the memories slowly fade,
like old photos in the family album

But one thing never fades:
the realization that it was always sunnier
back then