Others, when I was young, seemed la-di-da –
before them rich, full lives
strong, beautiful and confident, lithe
knowing the words, numbers and the tunes.
I watched them run over our springtime fields
hair flying loose in the warm greening sun
without blemish, wrinkle, or scar.
Youthful friends of mine they –
they were, they were, la-di-da, la-di-da.

I see them still gathered
in fields long gone, kicking
through autumn fallen leaves.
Their years succumb to days
lost in a forgetting haze
when they were young and la-di-da.
I did not know them after all
Like me, trying to find their ways
wandering – la-di-da, la-di-da, la-di-da.

Portland, Oregon – August 2, 2016

The Oxford Dictionary (Oxforddictionaries.com) definition of “la-di-da” is “pretentious or snobbish.” I can’t argue with the Oxford Dictionary people, except that this is not my meaning for the phrase.  I take the sense of it as used by the Diane Keaton character in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall.  There is no definition.  It is just a sense of carefree or careless.  At least that is what it means to me.