I was happy as a child
the most unhappy as a teenager
most people would agree
and tell me
I feel you
of course I’m with you
because that’s universal

but no
you can’t feel me
because I was twelve when the iron curtain fell
I had a good childhood
but it didn’t prepare me for my youth
and still
we couldn’t decide our direction
because we missed four or five years
of age and experience

we started from a scratch
in school we’ve heard about the same subjects
over and over again
year after year
all about democracy
nothing about the wars

what we’ve learned in that other school
we should forget
our society had been a lie
we were told
and so our society fell apart
what has been one people
was now torn apart
into left and right
but with leaders from the west

the generation before us
created our path
the generation after us
learned everything they ever learned
in the new world
while we carried the old world within us
but had to walk into the new one.

        © Dominik Alexander / 2023
        © Artie_Navarre (image)