we were outside children
playing in the rain

leaving the house early
returning late

no one was watching us
no one checked on us

friends were people
you touched (and punched)

we learned from each other
making our own mistakes

some of us survived
and some of us didn’t

but that was life

I like to think
even if we had

personal phones and
personal computers

we still would have been
outside children

playing in the rain

but I may be naïve
to think so