Gabriel Okara was a Nigerian poet and novelist born in 1921 who drew on African themes in his work. The poem "Once Upon a Time" is a first-person narrative written in free verse that focuses on a father's perspective of cultural changes in Nigeria with the influence of Western culture. Specifically, it explores themes of dishonesty, innocence, societal shifts, and cultural influences as the speaker laments how society has become complicated and untrustworthy compared to the past.