Dreaming of the 90’s

I used to wake up to the sound of dial-up tones,

Saturday cartoons, cereal on my throne.

Flipping through channels, Nickelodeon glow,

Dreaming in pixels, let the 16-bit flow.

Skating down streets with a Walkman in hand,

Tamagotchis alive, till they slipped through the sand.

Blowing on cartridges, praying they’d load,

Mario jumping, my childhood mode.

I ruled the world in an 8-bit dream,

Final Fantasy, lights on the screen.

GoldenEye battles with friends in the room,

Press restart, but time moves too soon.

Back when the Konami code felt like a cheat,

Street Fighter duels, never tasting defeat.

Renting the games that we’d never return,

Blockbuster nights, oh, the lessons we’d learn.

Flipping through pages of GamePro for clues,

Late-night sleepovers, no bedtime rules.

CRT flicker, the glow in our eyes,

Mortal Kombat—“Finish Him!” cries.

I ruled the world in an 8-bit dream,

Final Fantasy, lights on the screen.

GoldenEye battles with friends in the room,

Press restart, but time moves too soon.

Now the arcades have faded, the tokens are gone,

Controllers are wireless, the magic moves on.

But deep in my memory, the pixels remain,

A world built in sprites still calls me by name.

I hear the echoes, the loading screens call,

The soundtrack of youth still playing through all.

Though time has moved on, one thing is true,

The ‘90s still live in the heart of my view.