PLACES PAST
I drifted back to places past, searching for a sign
That once I'd had a life here in a dim and distant time.
I wandered through those empty docks where once I'd sailed away
But echoes now were all I heard from far off yesterday.
No rows of ships, all proudly lit, and flags from far domains,
But rows of silent empty sheds and idle rusting cranes.
Those pubs where once we'd drink all night and sometimes 'til the dawn
Stood quiet now with cobwebbed bars, dusty and forlorn.
The Bridge House and the Railway, the Lion, and the Kent,
The Royal Oak and others where precious youth was spent
Gave no hint of what had been when we supped on life's sweet wine,
When there never was tomorrow and we never counted time.
No rowdy laughs or bawdy tales, no fellowship, no cheer,
Just a solitary drinker sipping on his beer.
For gone were the seamen and gone were the whores
And those gaudy, painted queens,
And Johnny Cash on the jukebox singing Forty Shades of Green.
Don't wander back to places past, searching for the same,
We change, we grow, as places do, it's part of life's rich game.
Keep it in your memory, safe from time and age,
Where nothing ever changes and nothing ever fades.
David Partridge.