Nostalgia’s mostly dangerous and bent,
infecting memory with fantasy,
and modifying fact until what’s meant
as scarlet takes on tones of burgundy.
So childhood’s remembered as a state
that was or should have been replete with glee,
and parents subsidize; they pull the weight
their offspring ought to keep the kids care-free.

I challenge you to recollect those years
of learning how to be, when no one felt
they fit, and wonder days were rare as gold.
Your kids are 35 now, and the dears
should earn their ways, instead of having dealt
to them the funds nostalgia has cajoled.