All Those Years Ago

I went back to the old home town

to that small cold church

where friends were married

family buried

all those years ago

for one more sad good-bye

remembrances 

how some things never change

and some things can't stay the same.

Our friends were there,

they asked about you.

I couldn't bring myself to tell them

the trouble we've been through.

I let them smile

at the thought of happiness

untrue,

the air was thick with sadness 

enough one day.

...and my mind kept drifting

longing for simpler times

of sunshine and wine

on hot sweaty nights

when things were simple 

and right.

And so it was

as I payed tribute

to all things lost

I realized

how some things never change

some things can't stay the same

and there is no going back

to where we've been

all those years ago.

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   April 2013