Before the demolition

Turned my old Street

Into rubble

I went to steal some memories

Of our laughter & our struggle

 

I went to hopscotch down

The chalk lines of the past

Play tag with the echoes

Of ones who didn't last

 

Time had aged the street

Like a persons face too old

It wore the strain of many toils

From the ending of 'black gold'

 

I walked the shadows & the cracks

Where as a boy I'd dwell

Found hidey-holes of dim blushed light

Where I kissed, but didn't tell

 

Mr Wolf was down the lane

And I asked him of the time

He said, "Time for dinner, of course!"

So, I made a quick beeline 

 

For my old house down the street

With the flaking paint blue door

But, suddenly, it seemed to heal

And the blue paint flaked no-more

 

The door itself creaked ajar

And the waft of baking pies

Lit my soul a rosy glow

Bringing tears unto my eyes

 

Inside, my Father's singing

And three chorded guitar

Strummed gently upon memories

Long lost, like distant stars

 

I could hear Mother's laughter,

My Brother's cocky charm,

My Sister calling him some form

Of animal from a farm

 

Wonderful walls of woodchip

Shed magnolia skin

And the faint aroma of Woodbines

Meant that Granda had been in

 

Then, inside the living room

The fire flickered gold

And underneath its grate

Jacket taties in its hold

 

The smells

The sounds

The memories

Brought some tears

But mostly smiles

Drifting out from every crevice

Across the time-filled miles

 

It groaned as I was leaving

And tugged at my heart's beat

Outside, stood long lost faces

Raising a glass to our street

 

I filled my glass with memories

And drank it down with ease

And this place of our childhood

Blew away on a changing breeze