GRANDMA’S ROLLERSKATES

I can’t believe that it can be
That I am almost eighty-three---
It seems like only yesterday
I gave my rollerskates away!

How can it be so long ago
Since I trod sidewalks white with snow
---a mile each way---to second grade
In bloomers that my mom had made?
I’d yearn for spring with birds and flowers
When I might read and dream for hours,
Or join a group of my schoolmates
To wheel and whirl on rollerskates.
When free, at last, of snow and ice
I’d sweep the sidewalks, once or twice;
My trusty, rusty skate key waits
While I’d strap on my rollerskates.
With wheels of steel clamped to my shoes
My feet would fly the way I’d choose.
Those wing’ed heels of Mercury---
They didn’t have a thing on me!

Can it have been all those decades?
Now’days they call them rollerblades.
I watch those inline skaters race;
I marvel at their speed and grace;
And, though I’m chained with earthbound heels,
I know exactly how it feels;
My spirits soar, my heart takes wings
With joy that sweet remembrance brings.

If calendars and clocks don’t lie
But count the years as they slip by,
How can it seem like yesterday
I gave my rollerskates away?