Good Times

No one can justify the words of fools When ranting loud about the good old times: The long ago without the equal climbs Or access to the bin of workers tools, That built the bridges that divided schools, Where one earned dollars but the other dimes; The former wrote laws the latter wrote crimes Forsaking order, structure, method, rules. But we must take the good and bad times past, And have the brightest hope and darkest doubt, That “us” and “we” with “them” and “they” can last; The high and low, truth and lie, in and out, Of hate and love, scared and brave, small and vast; Build a past that gives future fools more clout.