Do you recall?

Do you recall ?

The days when we played cowboys in the street.
The good guys tasted victory and the Indians defeat.
Toy guns wedged within our snake belts as we hid.
Those who didn’t have a gun forged one from a twig.
Behind parked cars we'd hide from enemy attack.
Some day to be parted, dispersed and never to look back.

Boys and Girls from rows of terraced houses where we lived
The plastic bullets bounced away, the real ones don’t forgive.
Some girls we’d kiss but never tell our friends.
Romance on dark corners, heartbreak when it ends.
Experiments with fire and with love and with bravery and hope.
Laughing with each other and at silly names and jokes.

Fighting with the other boys across from where we lived.
Never understanding that our love is made to give.
Not a weapon nor a status symbol, or a carving on a tree.
But a lighthouse sent to guide us, to keep us safe at sea.
And I sit and wonder if you recollect or can recall?
The boy and girl who used to kiss goodnight along the garden wall.

I’d rush to walk you home and we’d pause at your front gate.
Scared to face your Dad if we were late.
Back then life and love was just a game, but.cupid shot his arrow in another time and place,
But sometimes when I close my eyes I still can see your face,
In the shadows and the streetlights shine.
Thinking that your love was always mine,
Not considering the endless twists and turns along the way.
Taking it for granted that you’d marry me one day.



And on that terraced street we’d buy ourselves a home.
And our Mums and Dads would live to see the Grand kids having children of their own.
We both flew the nest on separate paths, both charged with self determination.
And now our children proudly walk ahead; they are our independent gifts to the world and to future generations.

We marched into the world with all its splendour. We went and took our chances when they came.
The bravery of youth knows not surrender, grown up love’s a complicated game.
I often think about you and those carefree days.
Before time began to take its toll
Our teenage years when we were young and free
Times we never dreamed of getting old.
I like to think those happy times have shaped us
Moulded us so nobody could break us, taught us about love and about life
How to be a Husband , Father, Mother, Wife.

I’d like to think that if by chance we’d meet.
We’d reminisce about those terraced streets.
Those dizzy heights from which life makes us fall.
I’d ask you if you can still recall ?