Cherished Childhood Poem by DOMINIC PREMPEH

Age has taken away childhood, ah!
When, to us, everything was fun
With rhyming poems like Peter Piper….'
That made me more than a rapper
Or even the end-lines of ‘Old Roger.…'
Making us search someone to knock harder
Or ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star….'
And never cared if it was even dark, ah!

I remember performing ‘…. A lion has a tail….'
Without knowing which part of the body to touch
Or that of ‘Rain, rain, go away….'
Even when we felt the sun's scorch
Singing ‘Baa, baa black sheep….'
Not caring who will take the supposed wool
Ours was the fun, and nothing else

After ‘The two little black birds….'
We fought outside, which bird was Peter or Paul
We always ended ‘When I was a poor man….'
With our little hands hitting hard our ant-like chests
The funny recital of ‘S-o so; g-o go….'
Made us rhyme the end rather than saying a word
And we were on top of our world
(13th Dec.2014, Labadi)