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Twenty years can cause the whole world to change.

The longer you are away, it seems,

the more drastic it is, making it strange

to drive down old but alien streets

to see homes shuddered where you used to play,

to see new businesses where old ones stood,

And wonder if you never went away,

Could you have then saved the old neighborhood?

The streets are darker than they used to be, 

and lights don't guarantee safety no more...

One old food joint changed their old recipe,

and another has boarded up its doors.

Then you see some people you used to know. 

Try as you might, you can't recall their name...

You fake it, and try not to let it show, 

though you can tell they are doing the same.

Do you look as old as they seem to be?

Are they thinking the same thing you are?

You say "Great to catch up!" and they agree

allowing you to get back to your car.

There, you wonder where the hell the years went...

You drive from a town now foreign to you,

with pangs of nostalgia that wont relent.

'You can't go back again' now rings so true. 

  © Jeremy L. Heath, 2025. All rights reserved.