YESTERWAS

Old friends move on to greener pastures

Never to be seen again

What once was may never be

Nothing good ever seems to remain

Too much water rushes under the bridge

Can one ever return home again

I can’t piece the puzzle together

Cause I just don’t know where to begin

The city streets remain familiar

Old neighborhoods still look the same

But the mailboxes my friends once owned

Are addressed with different names

As I walk the sidewalks of my hometown

I am the stranger that no one knows

There are no familiar smiling faces

In this cherished place that I call home

I guess I’ve been gone way too long

Childhood dreams are now long gone

I’d give my last greenback dollar

Just to hear one familiar song

It’s certain that I can’t relive the past

Though to the past I’ll forever be chained

I’ll move on again without a doubt

But in my hometown my heart remains

© Richard D. Preston

10/25/03