What Life Was Like

What life was like when you appeared
can be recalled with ease.
Lord God was cool and had a beard.
And birds made love to bees.

When you grew up, no tweets by twits
besmirched the daily news.
There were no bytes nor megs nor bits
nor Skypy interviews.

You walked to school and just ate “food."
Your mommy smoked and thought
that rock’n roll was loud and lewd
and exercise was rot.

There were four channels on the tube.
Computers… what was that?
What did your grandma mean by “boob”?
A bird who's cute and fat!

Your life was slow and black and white.
You read a book a week.
Some right was wrong; some wrong was right.
And shoes of suede were chic.

The Fonz was cool; the Brady Bunch
filled a humongous car.
You sauntered home for daily lunch
‘cause life was never far.

You feared the Bomb - the war was cold.
But tanning seemed so hot.
A man of seventy was old
— a relic time forgot.

Who dared to use four-letter words
right on TV - deadpan?
Ecology was for the birds.
For horses — oats and bran.

You grew, you learned, you got engaged.
And here you are today.
You’re young, you’re old, you’re middle-aged…
Just call it what you may.

A cell phone is so big and small.
And Snapchat blows your mind.
Your kids say “dude” and “sick” and “lol.”
And you are so-o-o-o behind.

So what comes next — decline, demise?
Life skiing “downhill”?
Next comes TOMORROW and — surprise! —
you do, you shall, you will.