The Light Warden

The Light Warden

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

The only constant of first memory
Was of moving, seems we moved yearly.
Older brother, Andy, changed schools so
Often every elementary school saw him.

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

We lived in rural northern Chester County
Just north of Harmonyville on Houck Road
Next to Camp Rock Run, a teenaged girls camp.
Sadly, I was far 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 Pottstown's Junior&Senior High.

Since 1950 I've continually anguished over
Sixty two long years of man made carnage :
Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan,
Yugoslavia, Egypt, Africa's potential explosion.

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Has been replaced by all the lights going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've become,
A farmer by nature drawn toward words,
Feels lost looking at the peril facing man.
Are my words adequate for this vast task ?

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

Ronald C. Downie