Poem: I Wonder If Those Days Are Coming Back

Now I remember

I remember the days of long gone by

When I was young and my spirit was high

I remember

When I roamed the streets in my old sand shoes

And nazis were just coming in the news

I remember

And I wonder if those days are coming back

Now I remember

On a cold and bitter frosty morning

I walked to school shortly after dawning

I remember

There in the old school yard a sight that hurt

Charlie Brown was dressed in his sister’s skirt

I remember

And I wonder if those days are coming back

Now I remember

Charlie’s father was always on the dole

And dole had eaten poor Sunderland’s soul

I remember

His friends hid the boy who wanted to die

To keep his shame from the cruel world’s eye

I remember

And I wonder if those days are coming back

Now I remember

When we all played around the Southwick Green

Scrambling in the gutter for orange peel

I remember

How we dodged the rattling old tram cars

And our fathers hung about outside bars

I remember

And I wonder if those days are coming back

Now I remember

When everything was cheap upon the stall

But man’s labour was cheapest of all

I remember

How the people struggled and laughed and cried

And this town of Sunderland nearly died

I remember

And I wonder if those days are coming back

Now I remember

And as I try to think of ways and means

To prevent the return of bad old scenes

I remember

We must come together, you and me

To once and forever set ourselves free

I remember

We must see that those hard days never come back