My Old Hometown

By daiglepoems

I finally made it back
to my old hometown.
The shotgun shack
on the riverbank down
where the trout creek
drains the lakes up above.
Been gone so long I'm sick.
Man, how I used to love
fishin' with a fly
in the stream runnin' down
to the river runnin' by
my old hometown.

My friends are still there.
They lead a simple life.
Don't seem to have a care
beyond the house and the wife.
The huntin's fallen off.
Uncle Jack's getting old.
Picked up a wheeze and cough
from last years cold. 
The fish won't bite.
The water's runnin' brown
instead of clear and bright
in my old hometown.

Tore the old place down
and built it up again.
Five hundred acres
now a house on ten.
Damn pulp mill
stinks to high heaven.
The bar and grill's
now a Seven Eleven.
Gone the apple orchard,
so sweet and golden brown.
Gone, the mockingbird.
Somebody  shot 'em down.
Gone, the beaver dams.
Gone, the elk and deer.
The smokehouse hams
and the homemade beer.
Gone, the mill pond
where the two girls drowned
Where the rainbow spawned
and used to abound.
The sky turned black
and the rains came down
the day I turned my back
on my old hometown.

When I got back to the city
I was saddened by the sight.
For the homeless I felt pity.
Sickened by their plight.
Factories and cars
had poisoned sacred ground.
The sky, devoid of stars.
The air, a buck a pound.
A blind man could see
The writing on the wall.
It was clear as clear could be,
and half again as tall.
Draped across the city
like a bloddy wedding gown
and it'll show no pity
to my old hometown.

Unauthorized Copying Is Prohibited. Ask the author first.
Copyright 2012 daiglepoems
Published on Thursday, April 12, 2012.     Filed under: "Poetry"
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Comments on "My Old Hometown"

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  • Alchemist On Saturday, March 1, 2014, Alchemist (688)By person wrote:

    I have seen my lil' hometown grow so large over the past 25 years, so I know the feeling. A little small town out side of a southern capital now a suburb but we still got our moonshine thankfully, lol. I loved this!!!

  • RubyXero On Friday, April 13, 2012, RubyXero (484)By person wrote:

    your hometown sound like the place I live right now :/ always a pleasure, wonderful flow.

  • daiglepoems On Saturday, March 1, 2014, daiglepoems (95)By person wrote:

    and where might that be? Mine was a little place called Alberton, Montana. Used to spend my summers there and I have many fond memories of those times. Actually it was my pop's home town.

  • dwells On Friday, April 13, 2012, dwells (4288)By person wrote:

    Sometimes / most times we can't go back laddie, to that remembered magic that was yesteryear, cheers!

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