Once Upon A Time

Once Upon a Time

By Carolee Ross

A Time of Innocence
circa 1958

Once upon a time,
Elvis was a visual delight,
Teens hung out at the Malt Shoppe
Eisenhower warned of the Military Industrial Complex
And I danced the night away at the Palladium Ballroom.





Once upon a time,
Paul McCartney looked like a cherub,
Elfin Goldie Hawn did the frug on Laugh In
John and Yoko shared a bed for Peace
And I fit into a beguiling size 4.

Once upon a time,
Harrison Ford was a young Hans Solo
Natalie and Robert were wed again
Nixon resigned on TV
And I believed I'd finally stopped marching for Peace.

Once upon a time,
Farrah was the Angel every boy wanted,
Rachel Carson warned us of Silent Spring
We waited on long gas lines and worried about hostages
And I was Mom to two pretty, innocent little girls.

Now Paul's jowls are showing his maturity
Goldie is a grandmother
John is gone while Yoko lingers on
There are no long gas lines, who can afford gas?
Al Gore warns about Polar Bears drowning and
The Military Complex is no longer a Myth.

I'm marching again and again
because Americans are putting up with worse than Nixon,
My little girls are both grown up
Disillusioned and disgusted
And I struggle to keep alive,
Watching in utter disbelief
as I see the Planet dying.

Who cares -- you ask?
Even the dinosaurs went extinct
and they were here much longer than we've been.
Who cares?

I care,
for the innocents of the World,
for the animals being abused and poached,
for the trees being ravaged,
for the ice caps melting,
For the deluded religious right who will be
seeing Armageddon
much sooner than we'd all hoped.