November 2008  

Have You Never Noticed the Way?    ©    by    Ken Layton
 

Have you never noticed the way
The sun goes down on a golden day?
Have you never stubbed your toe
Walking to town to see a show?
Have you never teased a girl,
Eaten pudding til you had to hurt,
Broken a window throwing rocks,
Gotten a black eye learning to box,
Or phoned the local grocery man,
Asking Prince Albert be freed from a can?
Have you never stepped on a bee
Or skinned your legs shinnying up a tree,
Or dreamed of times long gone by
While studying cloud shapes in the sky?
Have you never yearned to be kissed
By a movie starlet you couldn't resist?
Have you never fenced with wooden swords,
Played knights and damsels, ladies and lords,
Or fought the Japs on Iwo Jima's sand,
Leading Marines across a battered land?
Have you never frozen your tongue
On a gutter pipe while being young?

         Have you never noticed the way,
         As dreams turn golden, hair turns gray?

Previously published in the North Carolina Poetry Society's
Pinesong: Awards 2008. Used with the poet's permission.
NOTICE: The copyright © for this poem belongs to the poet.