I Knew You When

I knew you when we were young.

We had big dreams and no money. 

We thought our generation

would make the world Utopia.

We thought we knew all the answers.

We didn't even know the right questions.

I wanted to hold all my friends and family close.

I never considered the changes and sacrifices

we would all have to make.

Now only a few of my friends still keep in touch.

To many I'm just a memory … Nostalgia.

To others I no longer exist in their world.

Most of my family are dead now.

Wars and bad choices took many friends.

How were we to know that all those dreams

would drop away like last years leaves?

And our Utopia would never materialize.

We all fell into the trap of trying to survive 

by becoming wage slaves.

And all the time we didn't see how the life 

we thought we had was just illusion and that

short span of freedom and exhilaration would give way

to our "senior" years.

Nothing lasts forever,

but did it have to end so soon?

We look back to yesterday

but now yesterday is thirty years ago.

And all we can say is …

We knew one another when.

© 2015 Feb 2 Philip G. DeLoach