Memory Lane

Buildings are still there, 
but all the names have changed.
Gone are the days 
when a short walk on little feet 
took me from hardware to clothing;  
drug store to grocery, 
all not under the same roof.

The days when the old man 
at the hardware store knew 
every man woman and child in town;
when the highlight of shopping for clothes
was trying to slide down the huge railings 
that flanked the wide set of stairs
right in the middle of the store,
and when the owner of the grocery
really did stand at the door 
and chat with people walking by.

Those stairs are gone — the building 
houses a restaurant now;
the grocery moved to a new, modern home,
back when I was in my teens,
and the hardware man died years ago.

Though I hadn’t seen him in years
some deep sense of past 
seemed to die with him.  
Gone was the last living memory
of those little moments long ago
when a trip to town meant 
the same people would always be there
in the same places every time.


september 2005
Janet Reid







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