Time Capsule

Happy Holidays, everybody! One of the Christmas presents I received this year was a framed poem that I had submitted to the Dade County Youth Fair in my 4th grade year. This was the first poem that I remember writing. I didn't win a prize because it did not conform to the specifed format for poems (hmm...maybe they just said that to make me feel better...). Anyway, it is an interesting read and insight into the 10 year-old boy that I was.

The Land of No Trouble

(March 1977)

The Land of No Trouble,

That's where everyone wants to go,

Where you're free to do anything,

Where trouble exists no more.

The day is sunny,

The grass is green,

No trouble at all,

None to be seen.

People smiling, happy and gay,

Smilng at this glorious, beautiful day.

The ruler of the land, plump and jolly,

Was covered with flowers, roses and holly.

He loved to dance,

He loved to sing,

He loved to do everything,

Even wear rings! But very far away,

as far as you can think,

There lived a bad queen,

A real rotten fink!

She had a bushel of slaves, both black and white,

She made them work hard, both day and night.

She hated the Land of No Trouble,

Despised it she did,

That whenever she bellowed,

Her slaves ran and hid.

So as time passed on,

She got disgusted too much,

She set a curse upon the land,

and they were scared such!

The sky was black,

Thunder would roar!

They pulled down the shades,

And locked all the doors.

The Land of No Trouble,

Was now filled with gloom,

The Land of No Trouble,

Was now for its doom.