Don'T Know You'Re Born
When I was young I heard my dad,
Repeat a phrase that I thought mad,
We’d asked for sweets and with much scorn,
He said ‘You kids don’t know you’re born’;
Before I explore what that means,
It filled my mind with abstract scenes,
I questioned in my childish head,
The consciousness of not being dead?
These images caused mild delusion,
Grammatically it caused confusion,
(Back then I was more sensitive,
And the phrase was meant to be relative);
Of course his string of double Dutch,
Was meant to say we had too much,
And as we’d never been without,
We didn’t know what ‘want’s about.
Admittedly, defending Dad,
If we just asked then we soon had,
And while I didn’t see it then,
We got our wish time and again.
When mum and dad themselves were small,
They didn’t have that much at all,
We’ve often since all heard the speech,
How Christmas brought just one gift each,
With just some nuts and fruit as well,
Which seemed to us like Christmas hell!
But though they didn’t get a lot,
They appreciated all they got.
They made the best of what they had,
To them it didn't seem that bad.
And now that I am getting old,
I’m learning now what we’d been told.
When we were kids we had a lot,
But nothing like what kids have now got!
I see parents taking out bank loans,
To get their kids the latest phones,
And see them wearing clothes designed,
For twenty five’s not under nines.
Whilst we would play out on the park,
And stay out late till it got dark,
The kids today are all inside
On console games on their backsides,
They’re stealing cars on GTA
Or buying rubbish off ebay,
Or killing zombies with a sword,
The grizzliest death getting great reward;
On candy crush or on Minecraft,
The range of games is unsurpassed,
From playstation, they're moving on,
To searching streets for Pokemon...
And whilst that gets them some fresh air,
They're chasing things that are not there!
I'm not so old that I don't see,
The wonder of virtual reality,
But surely there's a time and place,
And things that it just can't replace.
It seems to me now that I’m grown,
That games today are played alone.
Though played in groups, they've never met,
Except whilst on the Internet.
The friends I had when I would play,
We're down the road, not far away.
We laughed and cried in every weather,
Explored our world and learned together.
And maybe it is me that's daft,
A relic from a recent past?
But I wonder what this life will do,
To those who follow me and you.
Copyright © David Horne | Year Posted 2016
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