Yesterday When I Was Fifteen

We walked the long way home from school

Hoping to delay our time apart.

Best friends and classmates, we tarried in the sun

Of September afternoons so dear to our hearts.

Yesterday, when I was fifteen.

Our arms were laden with huge stacks of books.

Homework instructions are hidden from sight.

Jackets and sweaters draped over our arms

Were welcome this morning, but cumbersome tonight.

Yesterday, when I was fifteen.

All the beautiful streets of our small hometown

Baking and bustling in the hot autumn sun.

Full of big dreamers on their way to mom and dad,

Recklessly talking and having teenage fun.

Yesterday, when I was fifteen.

Falls City High School

It was the sixties, and our heyday was near.

We were innocent so briefly, some so close to war.

They had no intentions of dying so quickly,

We had no idea this day had happened before.

Yesterday, when I was fifteen.

We all went our ways to discover our destinies.

We now have grown older and long for rest.

I still think of school days and warm days of autumn.

I still think our time in life is simply the best.

And yesterday, when I was fifteen.

This poem is dedicated to the five men from Falls City who died in Vietnam.

FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA:
SP5 GARY WAYNE DUNN	SN PAUL AUGUST HOLTZ	LCPL MELVIN ERNEST KUHLMAN
PVT CARL ROBERT MARRS	PFC ROBERT DENNIS MURPHY