Blackberries

On one side of our house
In the early and mid 1950s
Was a steep hillside of wild
Growth which once a year
Included blackberries,
A chance to beat the birds
To the beery treasure.
My sibs and I would take
Any old basket or bag to
Comb through the hillside
Gathering blackberries to
Eat with vanilla ice cream
Or on cereal or in a pie,
A treat not to be missed
With homemade ice cream.
In the 1980s blackberry
Bushes surrounded our
House and pool in Austin,
More blackberry hunts
Followed and more home
Made ice cream for a
Celebration of blackberries.
Even now I can hardly resist
Picking some up at the
Grocery store though the
Ice cream is store-bought,
What else do we carry with
Us from our childhood into
The present too precious
To let go of even in a lesser
Form than our perfect
Memory of the past.
Old folks tend to lament
The loss of this or that and
Begrudge the young their
Chance to enjoy the present
Without our constant
References to a better past,
We ignore the progress made
And forget the suffering we
Saw as commonplace back
Then gone for today’s kids.
Two steps forward and one
Back us our human pace
Toward a better world each
Century and the best is yet
To come.