Life Is A Dream

We used to ride our bicycles all weekend, we’d only come home for food

My mum used to take me to help her in the thrift shop In Carlton when she was rostered on for her committee, it was all foreign when I looked out the door, little did I know I would eventually live really close by

I had a big cream Teddy bear named Teddy, I still have him somewhere, I should go find him and give him a hug

Mum made large Apple pies with roughly chopped apple and flaky pastry, she’d always have runny cream

Blue skies shone down on my childhood unabated, I don’t think I ever knew any different

My dad would watch the Sunday TV replay and the only thing I could get into were those little black shorts on the players

I used to go to bed and dream every night

We used to see Peacocks in the gardens when we visited on the weekends

I used to draw clowns shut away in my bedroom, whatever happened to those? 

Mum used to go to ladies’ day at the races with her girlfriends in big hats 

My mum used to tell her friends that she had children who behave, when they would do nothing but complain about theirs

Sunday nights were Countdown with tea on our laps, to hear who was on top of the charts

I used to dream about Peter next door shirtless in his back yard chopping wood

I lived in a world where everyone was equal and we never questioned that

I used to visit my great aunt for afternoon tea of cups of tea and cakes on trays

My mum promised to buy me a silver teapot if we found one for 50c, but we never did

Awful Uncle Brian saw men dancing on the TV on one of his rare visits to our house, and I heard the word poofters for the first time when it came out of his mouth

I used to sit on our back steps with our dogs and feel the sunshine on my skin, I was sure it warmed my bloodstream

I used to dream of being an architect designing great things when I got big

Aunt Lois would bring boxes of cherry chocolates she got from the seconds shop at Cadbury

My mum would give me soft boiled eggs in egg cups with sliced toast she used to call soldiers

My grandma used to give me caramel lollies to suck on, which would last almost all day

I used to wrap all my Xmas presents in different colour cellophane which would crinkle loudly as I folded it

We used to wear black suits to church but only on Xmas Eve, I guess the rest of the year we sinned

We had big family Xmas’ lunches with all my cousins, now we get together for our parent’s funerals

Now I dream about days gone by and how happy they were.