In the past, beyond the turn of a decade, I was a child;
No problems of consequence, worries only mild.
Energetic, running around all day outside;
Playing games, from seekers we would hide.

We were royals, using blankets to build forts;
We were rulers, our words law in the courts.
We bothered not our subjects with common tax;
And demanded our dues instead, in delicious snacks.

We explored open fields and raced the clouds going by;
And marvelled at airplanes that found their way through, first try.
Things that amazed us then, put to childish innocence;
One day to be looked back on as ignorance.

Philip van der Linde