As a child, I used to feel on the verge of a good cry;
There goes the world, I thought, as it passes me by.
I was only an 8-year-old tike when I first set to work,
Delivering newspapers on my bike, feeling like a jerk.
The rain, snow and sleet froze my eyelashes and eyes;
The house dogs nipped at my heels in a way I despised.
In summer, when I grew older, I became a golf caddie,
Carrying two heavy sets of clubs, just like my old daddy.
Down endless fairways, trudging under the relentless sun,
You name it; I can now frankly tell you it wasn’t much fun.
I grew up mercilessly in the familiar school of hard knocks;
As I walked to school, other children cruelly threw rocks.
In the early years, I was considered an incurable dunce;
I had trouble learning to read, with little success, not once.
To make matters worse, I couldn’t help but feel very shy;
I couldn’t bring myself to speak my mind, I don’t know why.
An inner reluctance always seemed to put me on my guard;
There were many dark days when I thought myself a retard.
My world held a strangeness; I half expected it to say boo;
Events became memories that feel like a stone in my shoe.
I wanted to grow up right quick, and I did grow, on the fly;
To leave childhood behind as an old soul knowing fully why.
The habit of reading began to open new, enticing worlds;
I began to gather colored banners that life simply unfurls.
The history books revealed the Greek and Roman empires;
My shyness found a voice to sing solo in the boys choir.
I still had no interest to reveal myself, but never seemed to tire,
Singing stark melodies of Gregorian chant to my heart’s desire.
Others became rich and famous with nothing much to contrive;
I have continued to struggle, feeling happy enough to survive.
The next time I have the feeling that the world is passing me by;
I will wave it merrily goodbye and give it a wink on the sly.
I learned early on in grade school that you had to be good at sports. I could run like a deer,fastest in my school. Never got into heavy thinking about worldly affairs but knew quickly who liked me and who didn't. Then girls came into my life and sports faded from view.
Childhood! A lot of us have had bad childhoods, I'm in that list. But a select few outgrow the bad memories. Don't know if you outgrew yours, but since you write about them I suppose not. But you did, as for as I can tell, distanced yourself from them and worked and grew into the eloquent poet we see here on AD! That, plus being a world traveler puts you in a class all by itself.
A Collection of Voices from Around the World is more than just a poetry compilation. It is a partnership of poets from around the globe brought together by an internet poetry forum. That forum, poetrypages.com, has been the home of many a fine poet s
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Rebecca
Love ya!
Jane
Childhood! A lot of us have had bad childhoods, I'm in that list. But a select few outgrow the bad memories. Don't know if you outgrew yours, but since you write about them I suppose not. But you did, as for as I can tell, distanced yourself from them and worked and grew into the eloquent poet we see here on AD! That, plus being a world traveler puts you in a class all by itself.