My long journey home again began with a dream
yearning to return to the place where I was born
Two of my brothers agreed to come along
for a beautiful four-day trip down memory lane
*
Together we drove down once traveled backroads
Shooting photos capturing memories at every turn
My how things had changed in fifty years
While some were much the same as I remembered
*
The home place was overgrown and unkempt and fading
The chicken house torn down // lost in the weeds
Our neighbor still living next door was happy to see us
His sweet wife had passed a few years before
*
The church stood strong and stately, just as we remembered
A rainbow welcomed us as we visited old friends
while wondering through the cemetery on the hill
remembering fondly how they had shaped our lives
*
We lunched with friends who shared our family’s history
Talked of old times and parents who had passed
Rode down along the banks of the mighty Monongahela
and crawled into abandoned coke ovens that once burned day and night
*
My grade school was gone, and the High School renovated
But the ghosts were still there as we drove slowly by
Favorite teachers and school friends we once knew
floated through our memories as we drove through
*
At the end of the week, we headed back home
with stories, photos, and memories galore
One can journey back home, but home is never the same
as the one we grew up in so many years before
At d’Verse, Bjorn asked us to write a poem about a journey. Back in 2018 my two brothers and I made a trip back to our childhood home in Masontown, Pennsylvania. We spent four days together reminiscing and visiting old friends. It was a great time together. We were very sad to see the condition of our old house where we were born. Things change a lot in the span of a lifetime.
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Dwight Roth grew up in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He taught elementary school in Eastern North Carolina before retiring after 29 years. Now he lives with his wife Ruth near Monroe, NC, and spends his time painting and writing. He has self-published several books that are found on Amazon Kindle. He is also published in past Old Mountain Press Anthologies. A book of poems called Ebb and Flow and a children’s book on Alzheimer’s called Grandpa Has Holes in His Head are his latest creations. Ebb and Flow is only available in hard copy from the author at [email protected] ,
Featured Image by Tom Fisk from pexels.com
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