Hometown sonnet

Hometown
Life used to bustle round our stately square …

Hometown Sonnet

The old hometown is aging, as am I.
The once wide streets grow narrow with the years.
As night descends, you all but hear a sigh,
For what once was has gone, and twilight nears.
 
Now, friends and kinsmen number fewer too,
And memories fade like the painted sign
Proclaiming that the city “welcomes you!”
Strange how one’s soul and place so intertwine.
 
Life used to bustle round our stately square
’Til commerce shifted to the edge of town.
The grand facades are now much worse for wear.
Some landmarks have been torn completely down.
The business of my life took me elsewhere.
Cracks grew in walkways of both man and town.

 

 

Hometown Haiku

1960 Marshall High School Noctua Yearbook.  Marshall, Missouri

We lost the big game,
But at least we’d never say,
That our lives peaked there.

Hometown Haiku (continued)

Saline County Courthouse, Marshall, Missouri
Stately old courthouse,
Like a beacon to pilgrims,
Welcoming them home.

Hometown Haiku (continued)

First Presbyterian Church, Marshall, MO
So very grateful,
As one acquainted with sin,
Forgiveness is free.

Hometown Haiku (continued)

Stacks of old letters
Stacks of old letters
Broken hearts and promises.
How clueless I was.

Hometown Haiku (continued)

Marshall Swimming Pool, Marshall, Missouri

Just be a nice guy
And don’t hurt anybody.
Harder than you’d think.

Hometown Haiku

Marshall High School, Marshall, Missouri
My ethical code
With its low expectations
Was even too tough.

Hometown haiku

Auditorium of the former Marshall High School, Marshall, MO

What one among us
Could bear his innermost thoughts
Inscribed on the wall?

Hometown Haiku (and a note for Father’s Day)

The Saline County Courthouse looms above the square in Marshall, Missouri
“Once, it was magic”

A recent trip back to my old hometown prompted some haiku.

Thomas Wolfe may have said “you can’t go home again,” but you actually can. It just won’t be the same as it was.

I’m not sure if there were any satori moments on this trip, but there were pangs of the heart. I’m posting this as a Father’s Day remembrance.

The old hometown seems
Smaller than I remember.
Once, it was magic.

Last time going home,
The old place sitting empty.
Memories and dust.

Mother and Father,
And all three of my brothers.
I alone remain.

Well over sixty
Dad built a barn by himself.
Now it, too, molders.

Father's old Bible
Held together with duct tape

Father’s old Bible
Held together with duct tape.
Now he’s face to face.

(A few years ago, on an earlier visit, my brother and I walked through the town cemetery)

Last time I saw him
We strolled between tombstones.
Now he has his own.

I left to find truth.
Yet here I am seeking scraps.
Scraps of memories.