Memories Of The Last Century Poem by Juan Olivarez

I'll take a sausage biscuit and coffee please.
Such memories at this drive through,
I don't know that my brain,
Can deal with so much change.

This Mickey D's stands right on the spot,
Where I killed my first rabbit,
A million years ago.
Trekking through the cow pond, just south,
The cattle pond where the Longhorns drank.

I would wade through waist deep water,
To reach the first of the many orchards,
That stretched forever to the north,
Lemons, oranges, Ruby Red grapefruits.

The big supermarket to the immediate west,
Was all chaparral, mesquite, huisache, colima,
Now it's all cement paved. Hard on the feet.
Bitter sweet memories of long ago.

Back then the ground was a mixture of clay,
And the good topsoil created by centuries of,
Droppings of ebony pods and leaves and twigs,
This is where I grew up.

And though now as an old man, I like the conveniance,
Of a giant supermarket, and a McDonalds close by,
I can't help but grieve over a vanished way of life.
A peaceful way of life.

Long gone now are the rabbits, and the coyotes,
The armadilloes and the horned toads.
Even the rattlers couldn't handle the change,
Only birds remain, on the trees around my home.

When I die, I hope I go to heaven,
And in my heart I pray,
That heaven is that time of my life,
With the cow pond, and the chaparral.

That wonderful time of orchards,
And rabbits, and coyotes, and armadilloes,
Even the rattlers. But most of all,
I would see the horned toads again.

5/7/14 Alton Texas