Eddie Schwartz and I
Eddie Schwartz and I
Two seventh graders
Passing through summer
In an era when America
lost her innocence
’Nam and campus unrest
Going to the Moon
Unemployment, strikes
Stock market down, Woodstock
Talk of another Ice Age
Eddie and I were undaunted
We were not influenced
By the trials of the day
Two young bucks
looking for adventure
We fished, hiked
Drank ginger ale and birch beer
to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Cecilia”
Went to St. Veronica’s on Saturday,
then stayed up ’til one in the morning
My youth has gone to a finer place
It was spent on dollar store items
I remember its fragrance
A flavor lost to posterity
Like days spent with Eddie Schwartz
Jeff Varanyak is a scientific illustrator with NOAA/GFDL and a member of the Burlington County Poetry Society. He notes: “I recently reconnected with Eddie Schwartz after an absence of 40 years!”
