There once was a time...
When the park was free...
Where families came together...
To simply play and be...

As friends and family...
We enjoyed a life...
Free from daily struggles...
From everyday strife...

We rode up and down...
Our Monkey Hill...
Our childhood mountain...
What a wonderful thrill...

We ran up one side...
And slid down the other...
On a sheet of cardboard...
I shared with my brother...

My sister came, too...
Will all of her friends...
It was a community affair...
Where excitement never ends...

But now the thrill is gone...
Locked behind a gate...
Unless we pay the politician...
Who decides our fate...

Life was once so easy...
Full of happiness and joy...
Now we must buy a ticket...
Each and every girl and boy...

There once was a time...
When the park was free...
Where families came together...
To simply play and be...

© 2022 Jeffrey Pipes Guice
My Wonder Years: A Book