I thought I’d like to tell you ’bout
Long ago when I was ten.
The world has changed so very much
From what it was back then.
We’d never seen a ball-point pen
We dipped ours in ink.
We washed our plates in an old tin dish
We didn’t have a sink.
No one had heard of television,
Just a gramophone to play our songs.
We ran about with feet all bare
They had not yet made thongs.
We didn’t have a motor car,
On horses we would ride.
There weren’t any theme parks
And no swimming pools.
And there were not any buses
To take kids to their schools.
We couldn’t buy a chocolate,
The War was on, you see,
They sent them to the soldiers
Who fought to keep us free.
Micro-waves and dishwashers,
Washing machines and mobile phone
They had not been invented
So these we did not own.
We’d never heard of walkmans,
Game Boys or computers with drive hard
But we spent many happy hours
With a simple pack of cards.
We didn’t have electric lights,
Just lamps with kerosene.
And so we went to bed at night
With books… or just our dreams.
Oh! I could write a book for you
About the many changes
That have come into this world of ours
Since I lived in the Bunya Ranges.
– Gabrielle Cavanagh, Kingaroy Writers Association
Author’s note: I wrote this poem in 2005 for my granddaughter, Kayla’s, tenth birthday.
