Growing Up… Poem by Betty Jo Hilger

Where have all the flowers gone
How I miss the scent
Of summer days upon the lawn
Cushioned, safe, from trials spent

It seems so long that innocence
Colored my world view
When I, in blissful ignorance
Passed by these shades of blue

When rosy tinted hues enclosed
The shadows of my mind
And smiles disguised each tear I cried
Leaving them behind

And gleeful rays of ecstasy
Were poured from heaven’s spout
Whose honeyed dew fell drenching me
Unaware of pain left out

When seasons mingled into tones
Uniting tints and traces
Impulsively, I scaled life’s thrones
Trampling the daisies

And tulips prattled with the wind
And daffodils stood, pleased
I never thought that time would end
Vanishing, quite like the breeze

It seems that life, has overnight
Become a bit profound
My childhood bore my flowers’ plight
Of winter’s rest beneath the ground