DOWN OUR WAY

DOWN OUR WAY

On merest whim I thought one day

To have a wander down our way

See the street where I was raised

Each and every change appraise

‘Cross childhood sights my eye did range

Relieved to find not much had changed!

Road and homes all quite the same

Save coats of paint on window frames

Still there my tree and hidden den

Though was it not much bigger then?

No shift I saw till second look

Was then sharply brought to book

I had sought for what was there

For what was not I‘d had no care

For all the time that I was stood

No leaf did stir in that neighbourhood 

No mam on step collected news

Or heard her neighbour’s firmest views

Neither boy nor girl did e'er emerge

To play on street or roadside verge

No, not dad nor gran, child nor teen 

Not a soul was to be seen

Think we might be in a rut

When every door is firmly shut?

None within from phone will stir

As life speeds by in digital blur

Have we lost, if I speak free

All sense of our community?

Twas not so when I lived there

I’ll tell the tale if you’ve half a care

Of kindly words and use of phone

And handy fivers in payday loan

Of bogie carts and old wheel barrows

On carless roads with hosts of sparrows

Yon paving slabs were scrawled with chalk

All skipping ropes and toddler talk

Kids back then great snowballs rolled

With not a care for brutal cold

Nor was any child too well-heeled

To tramp in mud o’er yonder field

Right fondly too I remember

Wood piled high for each November

Strawy Guy with features grim

Strident cries of ‘Penny for him!’

But here I guess I’ll break my spell

For time would fail for me to tell

Of Christmas Days and Chopper bikes

And mam in queue for new bread strike

Of childhood games with no fixed laws

Eternal summers and water wars

O people, see we not the danger

When all around are mere stranger?

Don’t we yearn for times long past

Before our doors were shut up fast?