These dreams I still have
Remnants of a misspent youth
Still push me onward
Unlike many of our young
Lost and wandering
~
Have we been failures
Left to fend for themselves
Both parents labor
This unavoidable plague
With our children as victims
~
Our culture has changed
Families expendable
Futures uncertain
Their dreams are left in tatters
If they ever had any
~
These dreams I still have
Are for our children’s futures
Prosperous and full
As mine was when I was young
Not something left in the past
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 
i agree with you. as the face of the world has changed, so has the face of dreams. it seems once upon a time people really worked to make a dream come true – the same can still be said for today, but it seems that in certain ways, due to our seemingly lazy culture, some feel they should be handed a dream or a shortcut to get there. I say lazy culture because, lets face it, in many ways we are – unless we continue to instill the importance of work to make a dream a reality. and then there are those who cannot dream due to a world that makes it impossible for them…. no easy answers. i do my best to let my pnuts know that going after a dream will many times mean the loss of a lot of sleep, dogged deternination and very, very dirty hands:)
I love this comment and the fact that you are instilling a work ethic into your children, it is so important. So many kids don’t get this due to our cultural and economic environment. I think that this is a sad change in our society.
Dreams of youth are so hard to hold onto. You grow up seeing both parents toiling at jobs that they openly hate and you have a higher chance of either accepting that as reality or fighting it to the point of self-destruction. That might just be my personal cynicism coming out.
No Charles, I don’t think it is. My son is in the Army, and complains about his superiors constantly. I’ve tried to tell him that if he thinks it is so much better in the private sector he is sadly mistaken. What you say is so very true. Thank you very much for sharing it.
Oh yes how the world has changed and as much as our children have gained they have lost.
I would agree with that. I certainly think they have lost a great deal unfortunately they don’t know any different, sad.
I am feeling you…awesome Dom!
Thank you Wendall, I’m so glad you liked it.
Passionate and true as always with your words Dominic, sadly. By sadly, I mean that your observations and insight are sad, not your poem or your talents LOL Many see these same things, changes in the world, in our children, in their dreams, or lack of them, or worse, in the sense of entitlement that seems to pervade all who follow behind us. As if the world simply owes them and it should just magically happen, no sense of working for something, it should just be dreamed and like DIsney or Hollywood, voila … it comes true! And what I think is even sadder is that what us elders knew and enjoyed about life seems completely lost, no longer relevant, almost like perceptions and definitions of what is good and right and meaningful simply do not exist anymore. Your posts always spark thought in me Dominic, whether I comment or not, know that I appreciate your voice!
Thank you so much for your comment, I believe that you and I think the same way. You have no idea how much the nice things you said about my poetry mean to me. This is the kind of thing that keeps me writing, learning and growing.