Homecoming

There are different reasons for our recollections

No one knew how tough the world was going to be

Nor appreciate our youth until all was spent

And is registered as past tense memories.

In every home a radio was playing

Music spilled throughout the house, into the street

KELI and the Billboard Top Hit 40

Conspired to bring a soundtrack to our lives

Some recall old ball game plays and statistics

As if high school glory was but yesterday

Balls made metallic ring sounds on the floorboards

And the smell of fresh hot popcorn filled the air

We kids liked hunting crawdads in the creekbed

Or played Allied soldiers bivouacing in town

Or 'loping down a dirt road on a stickhorse steed

Or swaying on a swing attached to trees

The clotheslines always bore a round of washing

Drying in the breeze with an elusive scent

See the neighborhood display its sense of fashion

In the constancy of every yard’s routine

The pious held a death grip on all morals

As they each worship among the deep rich smells

Of old hymnal books and lemon furniture polish

With a portrait of White Jesus on display

Faces that I once knew well are gone now

Their progeny continues in their stead

And cherish the old stories they grew up with

After all there is no ‘hometown’ without ‘home’

I find I seldom go back to that hometown

But visit on occasion in my mind

Where memories can be edited and revisited

So that past tense becomes present, for a time