Voice Of An American Citizen

SHUT THE PORCH LIGHT OUT

Twenty first is close at hand
A time and era
That seems not to be mine.
Will it be a better time
Or was the twentieth
The last for hope and peace?
Please God, take me
Back to nineteen fifty-nine
And shut the porch light out.

My time was! seeing
Nineteen fifty seven Chevy
Rumble fast as lightning.
Elvis on stage singing
"Don’t Step on my
Blue Suede Shoes."
Girls in pony tails
And bobby socks with
Pink sweaters and flannel
Skirts caressing their knees.
Please God, take me
Back to nineteen fifty-nine
And shut the porch light out.

My time was!
“Getting up in an apple tree
with nobody else but you.”
A stick with a line and hook
And a dog sitting by my side
And a river ever so clean.
Skipping off to school
To a Christmas program
Where five different schools
Stand and Sing
“Joy to the World.”
Please God, take me
Back to nineteen fifty-nine
And shut the porch light out.

My time was!
Standing in a classroom
Saying the “Pledge of Allegiance
To the Flag.”
Bedtime saying, “Now I lay me
down to sleep.”
And every Sunday was filled
With music and Sunday school teachers.
Please God, take me
Back to nineteen, fifty-nine
And shut the porch light out.

My time was!
A time when someone would
Listen to a child’s voice.
A time to sit around
A table and play games
Without the roaring “Box.”
A time when “love”
Was bringing children into the world
And not lust physical desires.
Please God, take me
Back to nineteen fifty-nine
And shut the porch light out.

My time was!  but
Whatever the twenty first
Might bring to us
Whether it be good
Whether it be bad
I can only pray and hope
That it will hold onto
The moral and valuable
Assets of the twentieth.
Please God, take me
Back to nineteen fifty-nine
And shut the porch light out.