I've been blessed. I have a fine wife that loves me and two beautiful children. A roof over my head and food on the table. All in all, tomorrow looks pretty good and today ain't half bad. But still, sometimes...I'd like to go home
to the streets of my youth
to barbeque chicken on Sunday afternoon,
Dad on the couch finding rest
Mom on the stoop not understanding
to brothers that quarreled
and a sister left behind
summers were different then,
the smells, the noise, the pace
puddles in the alley
tomatoes on the vine
laughter in the yards
sleep from play spent
Girls were fresh and pretty
undefiled in thought
or so it seemed
leaves song in gentle rush
as wiffle balls sailed the fence
and pepsis never canned
swimming beaches and fishing stringers
parades and christmas ornaments
still I smell the steaming dressing
made by hands so long ago silenced.
and taste orange popsicles
that stained my shirt
hunting trips and friends that raced.
car windows steamed
down by the riverside
to youth's embrace
and glances to glory
in future's hold
But home has moved
and silly I'd look
splashing in an alley's mud puddle
trees are beyond my climbing
and prom has donned her slippers
Mom finally understands
from somewhere
and Dad now takes to the step
chicken is just chicken
brothers just avoid
and sister is still, just left behind
all the smells now just a memory
aunts and uncles line crimson's wall
and pepsi tastes like the can
the leaves fall from trees
and the laughter belongs to another's summer passing
abandoned beaches, empty stringers
and the popsicle
long since melted
Frankie Valli
no long haunts the riverside chevy
the fence has grown distant
the game now grown scarce
and young girls...well
I'd like to go home
and say howdy do!
a hero's welcome
to my sported purple hearts
handshakes all around
and do you remember when?
the problem is,
I do remember when.
when today would never end
and tomorrow sailed on the wings of great stallions.
when summer vacation was two weeks away
and christmas promised happiness.
I know to count my blessings
and believe me I do.
I know the boundaries of time travel
are locked in fantasies lore
and I know life is a forward journey
through puzzled gates and lost love heartache
with no way back.
and dreaming makes for thin soup
but forgive me this
and judge me not too harshly
sometimes,
I'd like to go home...
~Rick
