The Years of My Life, 1949

A Journey from 1944 to … Now

1949.

My no-school years have ended, and

It’s kindergarten time at last.

I learn that I must raise my hand,

That I can’t run so very fast.

It’s Mrs. Dugan teaching me—

She’s just a couple blocks away.

I walk there, yes, so fearlessly—

I walk there every school day.*

The Forties now will breathe their last—

The Fifties wait impatiently.

But I’m still having such a blast—

The world, of course, all made for me.

My birthday comes. A football year.

A jersey bearing number five.

I dress up in that suit (so weird)

With gratitude I am alive.

When 1949 appears—

A comet flares across the sky—

And “Mule Train” is a hit—and fears

Just never really catch my eye.

I’ve many mem’ries from that time—

A carefree time—a time of play.

And as I think of it, well, I’m

Aware it’s not the same today.

*Except when I stop in Kiwanis Park to play on the swings, and my mother has to come get me.