Monday, November 15, 2010

It was once so much fun to go “Boom!”

It was once so much fun to go “Boom!”
(Or, “The Old Toy Cannoneer’s Lament”)

He thinks back to when he was a lad –

To the innocent fun that he had

With a fuse and some powder

Making thunder much louder

Than a bright summer June day should have

Most fathers once felt that their boys

To become men must have the right toys

Like Grand-pap did before

Father went to the store

And passed down a sacred tradition

The cannon Dad brought home that day

No doubt sang out often in play

Now fond memories, then

Speak to him in his den

As he sees in it times far away

Lo! It was once so much fun to go “Boom!”

But the cannon stands mute in that room

For cruel time gave youth chase

Now it just takes up space -

It’ll be in his big yard sale soon.



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Bert Barnett

Bert Barnett has been a student of the War Between the States since his youth.

Bert has always had a subterranean interest in poetry, first indulging his muse in public school. (Thankfully, no examples from this period are believed to remain.)

He is presently at work on a book, tentatively entitled “Rhyme and Reasons: The Meaning and Power of Poetry in Civil War America”.