Before Color

 

                         We were born in that era

                         that black and white time before color

                         tied to a makeshift umbilical cord

                         we nursed at a mother's breast

                         sprayed by the ashes

                         from a dangling pre-cancered cigarette

                         a President wore an Indian Headdress

                         campaigned from the rear of a railroad car

                         men with tin hats

                         marched in our dreams with military gear

                         and leggings from an earlier war

                         We were so pale together

                         dying of Consumption  in an opera

                         of Italian descent

                         surrounded by mourners from a harem

                         dipped in the pages of Arabian Nights

                         That was a long time ago

                         When the world was black and white

 

                         Until  one day  this same world

                         burst into technicolor

                         we were told  (Let's be fair

                         they gave us notice)

                         try not to live too long

                         you are taking up space

 

 

 

                                                           Jack Mashman

                                                           Rev. 1995