Homecoming

I went back home the other day
To see what did remain.
Could sense the place from far away
As I got off the train.
A mile away, but as a child
I still could hear that sound.
That wailing whistle, long and wild;
The trembling in the ground.

So off I walked down dusty road.
So long since I had been.
Returning to that old abode
To see my folks again.

The road went past the Simpson place.
I loved that girl of his!
I won't forget her smiling face.
I wonder where she is.
Beneath that tree in their front yard,
Her hand, I used to hold.
It seemed I held the winning card.
Somehow... I had to fold.
There's not much left; a stony wall
Right where the house once stood.
How did it look? I can't recall.
Right now... I wish I could.

When soon the house came into view
I almost turned and ran!
So scared of being overdue.
So scared to be a man.

Could almost see the neighbor's boys,
Who gave me my first pup.
I thought I heard my mother's voice,
"Come on child, hurry up"!
I listened long, but heard no sound,
Except the gentle breeze.
The old swing lay there on the ground
To rot beneath the trees.
The doors were locked, and windows too.
I'd seen enough today.
But one more thing I had to do
Before I went away.

I walked on out into the field,
Under a lone shade tree,
And saw the graves that death had sealed,
Yet time had set me free.
Then I recalled what Daddy said
The day he breathed his last.
"Son, carry on when I am dead,
And put me in the past".
I said a useless last goodbye
And left them both in peace.
My mind had let them finally die;
A bittersweet release.

My past was left around the bend
To die in rot and rust.
Then gently blew the summer wind
To fill my tracks with dust.