The good ol' days

"The good ol' days"

You grew up back then 

and you would say,

oh, 

those were the good ol' days,

perhaps remembering something 

you and your friends did 

that you think 

no one else does nowadays,

Or, maybe,

you're thinking of how 

harder things seemed to be 

back then,

it all starts 

with a single thought,

an idea,

you look out 

and see 

how the world is moving lately,

and then you feel it,

a certain memory touching 

a part of you 

that you haven't thought about 

in so long,

something from the past 

that was a part 

of how you grew up,

oh,

those were the good ol' days 

you say 

to yourself,

we had it better  back then 

you think,

and these kids nowadays 

don't even know,

there are less things today 

that are remotely like 

all those things from back then,

and now 

all kinds of thoughts 

flood in 

as you pull out your smartphone 

and search for when 

the sun still rose 

in the east 

and set in the west,

before the magnetic poles 

shifted, 

you look at images of when 

the seas were still blue 

and the marine life within 

were still beautiful and serene 

and not this unable to eat

toxic amalgamation 

of lovecraftian shapes and horrors,

you see pictures of green forests 

and snow capped mountains,

before the droughts 

turned trees into kindling 

and set the world on fire,

before the greenhouse gases 

melted all the snow and ice,

today 

you would be hard pressed 

to find snow 

beyond your freezer,

you show the kids 

and tell them,

imagine this 

all over the ground,

inches deep,

falling from the sky,

so much of it 

that you could play with it,

you could make balls with it

and throw them,

you could create fake men 

with enough of it,

and back then, 

enough trees were still around 

where you didn't need 

a permit to break off a branch,

so you could use 

some for the arms,

you could go to the fridge 

and without thinking, 

use a carrot  

for its nose 

and coal for its eyes,

so much 

of those things existed back then,

the kids just shake their heads,

they say that's crazy,

and you just tell them,

what do you know,

you're just kids,

but you know, 

those were the good ol's days.

-Armando Torres