Childish Things

When I was a child
the world was
cotton candy
and peppermint sticks
Mickey Mouse Club
and Mister Magoo
church dinners
and lip synching in the choir
Easter egg hunts
and Halloween costumes
thirty-mile drives
to the movies
with random waving
at strangers in their yards
or on their tractors
would they wave back
they usually did
and long vacation trips
to see the greatness
of our land
Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls
Mount Vernon, Lincoln Memorial
counting license plates
from faraway states
how exotic to be
the California family
waving back at us
from the rear
of their Buick station wagon
basketball and baseball
in backyards and empty lots
All-American dreams 
and a pretty girl
with long braids
and pleasing smile
that I would surely marry
and live happily beside
with kids and a dog
until death did us part
but that was long ago
and no more
than a half-recalled dream
in a time when the world is
guns and missiles
murders and mayhem
cyber scams and street crime
cop killers and killer cops
autocrats and racists
the poor and the sick
drugs and divorce
strangers who wave back
only with their middle finger
pandemics and a choking planet
while heedless of warnings
our hands remain 
around its neck
is this our great land
or are we Rome
in its mortal throes
and I’ve put away
in my mind
those childish things
from that long-ago dream
in a chest with a lock
and a key I can use
to peek in
at cotton candy 
and peppermint sticks
and all is well once again.