I am sorry you missed the Depression back when
We supposedly were Oh, so desperate then.
I agree that it was a realistic bad time—
Where you could have heard daily “Can you spare a dime?”
But what you would have seen was the national mood;
It was anything but one that cowered and brewed.
We Americans, all of us, optimists all;
And we add humor to it, no matter the call.
It is part of our psyche, that’s played to the hilt;
For it seems everything must be given a lilt.
So, of course, you would see some who were down and out,
But that wasn’t our mood, of what life’s all about.
Take the movies of that time, and all the Big Bands,
The Department Store windows, all public demands.
Quite remarkable really, but then, no surprise;
It is just who we are, and where good fortune lies.
We have made this a constant since we became us;
Make a negative into a positive plus!
© Richard Williams