When I was Eleven

When I was eleven, life was kind of cool.
Not a whole lot of grief
Not a whole lot of responsibility
Life was one day at a time, and
Nobody ever thought of tomorrow.
Today was good and tomorrow could wait.

In the summer, we went to Day Camp
Each day was new
Each day was different
One day we’d go to the beach, and
Another day we’d go on a special trip.
We never knew where and it really didn’t matter.

One excursion was Coney Island.
Three hundred kids on the subway
Kids getting lost, counselors panicking.
Kids getting found, counselors breathing relief.
Gold fish spilling all over on the trip home.
Three hundred kids making it back.
How, only God knows.

We didn’t have much money,
But if you never had it, you couldn’t miss it.
We had the street and we had the schoolyards
If you had some chalk, you could draw, and
The sidewalk was your canvas.
Yeah, life was kind of cool at eleven.


Bill