The Light Warden

The Light Warden

Born of The Great Depression, I entered
A World of constant turmoil, endless strife.
Lazy year, 1935, of drab malaise,
Heralded me on this Earth a poor boy.

The only constant of first memory
Was of moving, it seems we moved yearly.
Older brother, Andy, changed schools often
Every elementary school saw him.

A knock on the door caused an instant fear,
But it was usually the light warden
Telling Mom and Dad to close our black blinds.
The War could bring German planes overhead.

We lived in northern Chester County
Just north of Harmonyville on Houck Road
Next to Camp Rock Run, a teenaged girls camp.
Sadly, I was too young for girls back then.

With War's end we moved to Lower POttsgrove
Township on North Keim Street, at Ringing Hill.
Completed schooling at Lower POttsgrove
Elementary then onto Pottstown.

Since 1950 I've anguished over
Sixty two long years of man made carnage :
Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Sudan,
Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, more.

Will I reach my natural end before
Man causes an unnatural World's end ?
The twenty-one trillion hoarded dollars
Off-shore World wide can't buy eternity.

The fear of light peeking out when a boy
Has been replaced by all the lights going
Out when the electric power grid goes
Down imploding under its own vast weight.

An ineffective person that I am,
A farmer by nature drawn into words,
Feels lost looking at the peril facing man.
Are my words inadequate for the task ?

Hell yes ! Each must speak up and shout it out -
" We are sick and tired being lied to."
The cesspool, political rhetoric,
Is as pungent as down wind sewage spills.

Ronald C. Downie