I stood at the end of the hallway,
Gazing out the fourth story window
Of St. Mary’s Medical Center.
A heavy mist shrouded the distant hills,
While the grounds closer to me
Claimed most of autumn’s leaves.
Between the distant hills and
The blanket of yellow leaves close by
I could see the top floor of East High.
Like always, I thought of my sister-in-law.
She walked from 25th Street to 29th
And 1st Avenue to 5th—to and from
East High—come rain or shine, 16 blocks daily.
If I close my eyes and think really hard,
I can see her going this distance
With a wide smile, shoulders raised high,
Sometimes marching-two-three-four,
Singing-two-three-four,
Outta tune-two-three-four—Halt!
This was the way it was in the 1950’s.
It was done without sorrow or pity.
Will it ever be that way again
Not a chance-four-three-two—Halt!
To quote the late Walter Cronkite:
“And that’s the way it is.”
©️Copyright 2022 By David Lee Thompson
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CERTAINLY ONE MUST ADMIRE THE MANY INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD THE PERSEVERANCE AND DETERMINATION TO DO SO. ENJOYED, THANKS FOR SHARING. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS
thank you for the lovely poetry. i have enjoyed reading it and going through some reminiscing.
it would have taken your sister in law to have walked 16 blocks daily, not being familiar with your ‘block’ system, …but I imagine it was a significant length if time! Here in the UK as kids, we walked to school and admired the beautifully kept Cottage gardens on the way to school, and played many games together to amuse us….
Hail, rain, blow or snow…nothing stopped us, and our schools were never closed due to the weather…I’m sure your sister in law David…It was a way of life that is sadly gone…The car reigns supreme!, and we now have major problems like
Obesity, and air and environmental pollution….perhaps it could change and we can take examples from the past…and save our kids and the planet!
Thanks for your timely words…Some of the problems of today could be so easily remedied!
Fresh air and fun…what is there to dislike?
Diana🍃
In grade school, my twin brother and I only had to walk a block across sixth to the unsupervised gravel playground where much of the play was running quickly to escape bullies that pulled at my shirts and popped buttons. Some of my shirts had patches so that mom could so another button on where a hole had been ripped, tearing out the last one. Thankfully, for both of us, the only thing that got injured was our shirts and lost buttons. However, Roger did get hit by a pickup truck on busy one way 6th St.
Junior high in another town was a mile away. So dad bought us new Schwins to ride to school. We parked them in the bike rack and they never were stolen. They were unique enough that anyone stealing them couldn't hide in that small town. But bikes were stolen.
In high school, when it wasn't cool. We sold our bikes, got a ride to school in the morning with a nearby neighbor in a convertible 1950 Studebaker--cool. And walked home the 2 miles along the railroad tracks behind all the houses.
Ron