Too Squeaky Clean

 

 

Hitting apples in de ground

With not a pipe around,

Just brushing off whatever dirt

And gulping dem down.

 

Drinking from another’s bottle

Without wiping off de top,

Catching something as a result

Was a whole lot of rot.

 

 

 

Brekking out juicy cane

And eating them in de ground

And the only problem we had

Is if de watchman around.

 

This was good for exercise

For we would have a good run

And we ain’t dropping de cane,

Boy, that was some fun.

 

And the regular stumped-toe

That we more often ignored

Healed within a matter of days

If it wasn’t stumped more.

 

Running around barefoot

And getting a “nail-juck”

Would attract a tetanus injection

And scarcely another look. 

 

 

Pitching marbles outside

And brewing wid we hands,

Helping de marble roll in de hole;

This was a master plan.

 

Wunna remember “killer”

A pitching game we use to play?

Mango or golden apple in we hand

And we still alive today.

 

Sharing a towel and a comb

And ignoring the 7-second rule,

A mango or apple under a tree

Was back then kind o’ cool.

 

Developing antibodies

Through the oral cavity

And having a clean-out ever so often

Surely fixed up you and me.

 

 

Castor-oil and shark-oil

And other bad-tasting things

Were proactive remedies back then

For our friends and siblings.

 

But nowadays

We are too squeaky clean,

And even the common cold

Creates quite a scene.

 

Children’s resistance is low

Despite a better hygiene,

It is my view and my contemporaries’

They are too squeaky clean.

 

The immune system is crippled

Almost becoming defunct,

Too squeaky clean, I must reiterate

Is more than just a hunch.

 

Above are scenarios

That made us grow up strong,

Back then it seemed so natural

But today it is wrong.

 

Doctors had less work,

Today the queues are longer,

And there is absolutely no doubt

Back then we were stronger.

 

We were not squeaky clean,

We could not afford to be

But today we are old and fairly well

Except for some senility.

 

Today we too squeaky clean

And we still getting sick,

Maybe it’s too much processed food

Instead of a little bit.

 

We ate bird-picked fruit

And probably a worm or two,

We couldn’t afford to be squeaky clean

And did what we had to do.

 

Stewart Russell © March 20, 2024