A Town He Once Called Home

Like a beacon on a hill
The white church steeple gleaming still
For all the many years gone past
It marks the path for home at last

Up and down each tree-lined street
Where childhood friends and neighbors meet
In history and memories rich
The blue jays sing in perfect pitch

The corner stores of now and then
From delis to the five and ten
From music shops to shoe repair
Each one has had their moments there

Familiar faces come and go
Each one within my heart I know
From time to time they visit me
And haunt my fading memory

For some I cannot place a name
And neither had they any fame
Beyond the outskirts of the town
That beckons me to write this down

The puddingstone constructed walls
And scenic rocky waterfalls
Enhance the landscape near and far
That one can see by foot or car

Though weather-beaten and so scarred
The trestle rusting, standing guard
Above the waters down below
Through decades of the river’s flow

Another sentry stands alone
The old Arch Bridge all made of stone
To Indian Rock her pathway leads
A longtime site of teenage deeds

And there’s the Wall, still standing straight
Where people used to congregate
For kids on Main Street long ago
It used to be the place to go

Depending on your stomach’s mood
Pizza, subs or Chinese food
Will satisfy the appetite
While ice cream cones complete the night

The Darress that was once The State
That grand old theater is great
Next door you might find books of poems
Within the library called Holmes

Nostalgic for the times I sat
Inside that corner laundromat
Across the street Martancik’s store
Had Swedish Fish and so much more

And down Division Street was Drew
That factory that we once knew
Further past that neighborhood
A Shop Rite supermarket stood

Del’s Village down to Boonton Lanes
Through winter snows and summer rains
Kindergarten to high school
The lives we lived were rich and full

In parks and playgrounds did we roam
Within this town that we called home
Imagining our childhood schemes
Adventuring by tracks and streams

How I’d love to walk once more
Inside Newberry’s corner store
I’d spend my time way in the back
With toys and models by the stack

The Boonton Opera House of old
Is where my life did first unfold
Brought up with love to grow and thrive
Since nineteen hundred sixty five

I have walked her every street
They’re etched upon my heart, so sweet
The sights and sounds of yesterday
Are with me to my dying day

Of all the lovely friends I made
Some have gone but most have stayed
Through all the years we’ve kept in touch
I love them all so very much

Somewhere, right now, a child plays
Where I once did in good old days
And soon this town shall let him see
The magic things she shared with me

And he will carry in his heart
The lovely things she did impart
Perhaps he’ll write it in a poem
About a town he once called home


© Mike Wise
11/8/18

Tags: Encouraging, Wishful, Beat, Rhyme, Love, Sad, Happy,