The Age of Innocence

I was digging through some old poems, songs, short stories and other such writings and came across this lovely piece of work:

Drugs: 
By Mary and Bethany

Drugs make you feel bad,
Depressed and sad
They make you angry
Even mad

You never have fun
Or get things done
You're always upset
With everyone

Chorus:
Don't get addicted to drugs
(Baby)
Don't get addicted to
Dru u u u ugs
Don't get addicted to drugs
(Baby)
Don't get addicted to
Dru u u u ugs

Think smart and
Don't start
The pressure's on
Today is like
Any other day

Believe in yourself
And be happy
Say yes to your friends
And family

Repeat chorus

Keep working hard
To reach your goals
Always remember
To say no

And you will be
At peace forever


Repeat chorus

My best friend in middle school and I wrote this when we were in 7th grade.

We. Were. Awesome.

And thought we were rockstars...

And had a strange obsession with The Brady Bunch.

Not to mention the fact that we named everything (animate or inanimate) "Herman"...but that's irrelevant. 

We had never ever ever had any sort of exposure to any kind of drugs that were "bad". That's what it was like then. There were a few kids who would disappear behind the dumpsters and come away a few minutes later laughing hysterically and craving Cheetos, but we were oblivious.Any sort of experience or lesson we had on the matter was via Nickelodeon and the random songs kids would sing during commercial break from Are You Afraid of the Dark?

We were innocent.

(And on a side note, I'm pretty sure my brother Pat was influenced by this song later on in his writing....No, I don't mean the drugs part. I am strictly referring to the overuse of the word "baby".)

And though I look back and laugh at this oh so beautiful and talented song we wrote...sometimes I miss that innocence, even crave it.

I wish there was a way to hold onto it somehow. Perhaps that's the reason I've kept these silly writings tucked away all of these years. It's a memory of a time that was simple.

"The innocent and the beautiful Have no enemy but time."
William Butler Yeats