Revelry

[Jimmy Stark]

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We were young,
wide-eyed and pure.
Untrained by hegemony with
flippant causes and reasoning.
Smoking cigarettes in the park
marveling at the sky zoo.
Smoking weed in our old tree houses
laughing at the perceived irony.
Unchained and wistful
still measuring the marks on the door frame.
Shouting over the radio and
memorizing Marxist paradigms.
Sipping on coffee in rebellion
for late night Cinemax.
Cutting class for a parking lot quickie
as friends pondered existence.
Drinking dad's good bottles
because some nights are worth a whipping.
We simply were
and we will be.
Until the next generation invents sex,
and repeats our own repeated mistakes


Original

We were young
Copacetic and pure.
Untrained by hegemony with
flippant causes and reasoning.
Smoking cigarettes in the park
marveling at the sky zoo.
Smoking hookah in our parents garages
while bonfires roared on alone.
Smoking weed in our old tree houses
laughing at the perceived irony.
Unchained and wistful
still measuring the marks on the doorframe.
Shouting over the radio and
memorizing Marxist paradigms.
Sipping on coffee in rebellion
for late night Cinemax.
Cutting class for a parking lot quickie
as friends pondered existence.
Never wanting to stay,
but crying as we left.
Drinking dad's good bottles
because some nights are worth a whipping.
Excitedly returning for reunions
and tearfully driving back for funerals.
We are still young
but there are now younger.
We can still fail
but we now must pick ourselves up
buoyed by ambition rather than guilt.
We simply were
and we will be.
Until the next generation invents sex,
repeating our mistakes
that we ourselves repeated.