Oh Happy Days!

My memories of childhood warm
the cockles of my heart.
Those lazy ways and hazy days,
when summer sun would start.

From morn till night we’d play outside,
old games like Blind Mans Buff.
We’d always peek for Hide and Seek.
Our play was often rough.

We’d eat our lunch with mucky hands,
it mattered not a bit.
We’d graze our knees from climbing trees.
It wouldn’t make us quit.

We didn’t need computer games
to occupy our minds.
A thousand ways to fill our days
were of the simple kind.

We’d chalk out squares for hopscotch games,
with screams of sheer delight.
For hours we’d run, all burnt from sun,
till starlight signalled night.

At eight or nine, our mums would call
to get us in to bed.
We’d then implore for minutes more
to end our game instead.

We’d eat our supper, fighting sleep
from energy we’d spent.
And down we’d sit for ‘lick and spit’,
to bed we’d all be sent.

Then mum would come into our room
and tell us tales of yore.
Then come the dawn, with stretch and yawn,
the fun would start once more.