A Long Time Ago Poem by Grahame Lockey

A long time ago there were things called stars
They were up in the heavens with Venus and Mars,
Along with the moon, a dusty old ball
That hasn’t been sighted for decades at all.
A long time ago, the sky was sky blue
You laugh at me now, but I tell you it’s true.
We could stand on a mountain flying bright kites,
See them ducking and drifting to vanishing heights.
A long time ago, you could breathe in the air
Without fearing the loss of your toenails or hair.
A long time ago, the grass came in green;
Rivers were thirst-quenchers; seven seas clean.
A long time ago, there were fish in these oceans,
Birds in the branches - do these seem odd notions?
There were habitats teeming with animals rare,
Black penguin, pink dolphin, the white polar bear.
The globe had a mop of grey hair and a beard
To think of it now seems remarkably weird.
Hammocks of cobwebs hung white with hoarfrost,
Thankfully spiders are not yet quite lost.
In fact scuttling things have done well to survive,
There are grubs under bark still and cockroaches thrive.
But anything worthy of filling a zoo
Fell silent along with the neigh and the moo.
The woof, the miaow, the oink and the baa -
Eating such things got too dangerous by far.
So you, my child, what will you never now know:
Food on the table, boredom and snow;
Things to gaze long at in wonder and awe;
That full sense of many more good things in store;
The feeling that life goes according to plan;
Impatience to grow into woman or man;
Fruit to be eaten plucked straight off the tree;
Or anywhere private to contemplate, be;
A world without priers writing your mind;
The chance to be generous, caring or kind;
Bread to be broken at mealtimes to share
Not something to hide away, auction as rare;
A home where all tucked-up, snug and well-fed
There only lived monsters under your bed.