Time Was When... Poem by Richard Wlodarski

Time was back then when we were driftin'
Into Club Carousel and groovin'
And experiencin' the happenin' feelin'
And not worryin' 'bout who's cussin'

Time not that long ago when we could bop
Not giving a damn 'bout who was a flop
Time when Allen Ginsberg would Howl
When our moods would go afoul

Time was when virgins ran aplenty
And sinners were so into synergy
And jazz clubs were makin' the big money
And you and I were losing our virginity

Time of not so much innocence
When we were into so much nonsense
And the music was so bluesy
And we weren't all that choosy

Time was when we were hippies
Wearin' in our hair daisies
Protestin' Viet Nam fightin' for peace
And dyin' for that bloody war to cease

Time was back then when we were trippin'
On the road to California dreamin'
And the clubs were always in the fore mind
And we hadn't yet quite lost our mind

Time was back then and now
When we were always driftin' somehow
Into the good ole Greenwich Village
For our crazy nights of pillage

Time was back then when life was so easy
And we had politicians that weren't so sleazy
And you and I and the lost Now Generation
Sockin' it to the likes of Nixon and leaked information

Time was back then when you and I and our baby
Had felt safe in this good cosmopolitan city
Time was when Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Had said fuddle duddle and where we can go

Time was back then not so long ago
When love and peace didn't have to go
Time was when The Beatles were bigger than God
Lost a lot of fans burning their records giving them the rod

Time was back then when we imagined with Lennon
A world with no war no poverty no heaven
Time was when we lived in peace and harmony
Time when we didn't know meaning of cruelty

Time was back then when all the president's men
Were doin' a good job of watchin' him surrounded with women
Time was when the rock and roll prez was blowin' his sax
And you know who was sendin' him more than just a fax

Time was back then when would-be poets stopped when we were ahead
And didn't crack jokes about the prez head-to-head
Time was when you and me and the prez and the prime minister
All thought that life was getting so much better so much better

Time was back then and now when we knew somehow
That we're all still into love and peace and the pow wow
And the likes of Harper and Bush and the lost Tony
Are making this Planet Earth so much more lonely

Time was and is forever now proper
When love and peace will have to prosper
And the evils of Bin Laden and Bush
Will finally wake us up and give Peace a push