I wish there was a way to know,
That the 2010s, the decade of our childhood, was coming to an end.
Unreal anticipation of 2020, like wearing a perfect contact lens.
They say: 20/20 vision.
Okay, now, let’s do some division.
We in June, the sixth month.
Surely we have quite a story for our grandsons.
We’ve had so far, violence and unrest, so many deaths and much distress.
A whole pandemic, and racial injustice that’s systemic.
Oh, I just counted six.
That’s 6/6: a tragedy a month, and we need a fix.
I’m sure y’alls’ 20/20 vision saw this coming.
But all I see is your shortcoming.
Might wanna check that contact lens prescription…
I just wish there was a way to know.
That we were rolling back the laws of Jim Crow.
Now, this quarantine,
Really made me think about the times before my teens.
Reminiscing about when news stories weren’t just smoke screens.
Recollecting the simpler times,
when the name X AE A-XII wasn’t a kid named by Grimes.
Now let’s take a trip down memory lane
Times when a pain,
was a scratch from falling off a bike
Or getting lost on a family hike.
Times when we made fun of a boy talking to a girl (and vise versa),
Or ate ice cream in swirls.
Times when we couldn’t wait to become adults,
Now we know we don’t want that to result.
I only wish there was a way to know,
That this was all coming to an end.
Nowadays it’s just,
Relationships that failed,
And some wanting Mr. President to be jailed.
All this, makes me think,
As Andy Bernard links,
“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days.
Before you’ve actually left them.”