Columbia's Testimonial - a Poem.

Another fine piece of prose by yours Truly, bemoaning time's tarnishment of my winding-cul de sac'd motherland...

O, Columbia!

Thou wer'st my formative years, nestled
centrally in HOCOMD. In Clary's
Forest, Hickory Ridge, I grew and
blossom'd, exercise'd by thy Athletic
Club(s), educated by thy Swansfield,
Harper's Choice, and Wilde Lake
schools.

When upon 15 I turned, in thy Mall's now
defunct food court, I worked, and after
at the now-defunct Ricciuti's. To and
from home, I rode thy bikepaths. In thy
fields and parks, I drank after dark,
pursue'd by the HoCoPoPo.

O, Columbia! Where'st go thy trees?!
Fallen soldiers to a war thou art losing;
with thy overinflated land prices, Tree
City, 1988, lost to the developers'
Caterpillars and "gated communities."
Governor Warfield, no longer shaded
from the beating sun; traffic increasing;
Merriweather Closing -- or closed in.
School Board scandals and declining
frog populations.

Gone are the days when Route 108
was in the country, and Skateland's
lights flickered, when grass length
fueled neighbors' quarrels