Whenever my friends would come
To play baseball, cards or other fun
No telephone or doorbell would be rung
Rather from the curb my name was sung

Streets, prairies and alleys were our places of play
No parents setting play dates or planning our day
Garbage can hunts and pop bottle finds
Collecting treasures from another time

Games of run rover, hop scotch, statue making man
Swimming at the beach, football on the street and kick the can
Street lights turning on signaled time to go in
Wash up, jump in bed, no waiting for sleep to begin

School taught by habited nuns whose rosaries jangled
Pointing threatening rulers like menacing angels
Warning us of sinning and the hot flames of Hell
Oh, how we waited for that three o'clock bell

Girls cheering at basketball games and dances at the park
A little pony-tailed girl to whom I gave my young heart
Hand holding evenings under star spangled skies
Dreaming of the future we hoped might arise

I savor the nectar of those long ago times
Echoing in canyons like mellowing rhymes