Symbols

Symbols from my childhood:

Toys

Teddy bears and wooden blocks

Bikes with cards stuck in the spokes

Sparklers in clear summer nights

Laughing crowds of happy folks

Standing for a simpler time

And a desire

For “home”

Lines

Circumscribed within a circle

Painted on a protest sign

Somber marchers in the streets

Wait destruction from on high

Standing for the fear of death

And a desire

For “peace”

Fists

Thrust in vic’try and defiance

Somberly demand and plead

Stake their claim for dignity

While at home their fellows bleed

Standing for equality

And a desire

For “rights”

Tears

Weeping down a craggy face

A Native Chief stands by roadside

Trash and garbage thrown at feet

Imploring that we too should cry

Standing for ecology

And a desire

For “Earth”

Symbols from my childhood

Scenes long past recalled

Toys and lines and fists and tears

Calling still

In waning years

Oh!

May such symbols

Cease their need

In past recede

Whilst ideals they sign

Come to this time

As lustrous pearls

In our children’s world

By Mike Turner

From: United States

Website: http://www.MikeTurnerSongwriter.com

Twitter: SchoonerSkipper

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