Down Home
by Henry Burt Stevens
5/29/2003

A heart's secret place
unchanging, a refuge
our childhood remembered
deep in our thoughts.

but when we go there
return to our dream
it has all gone away
only fragments remain.

it has burned down
urban renewaled
rebuilt and repainted
occupied now by strangers.

the mill has been closed
the mining vein ran out
the "I" went through far away
they took up the train tracks.

most people now are gone
no one knows the names that we say
when someone remembers
we hunt them up excitedly

"..we hung on
to the old place
till we were
too poor to leave."

"..our tab at the store
is twice our monthly income,
the leins on the house
are more than it's worth."

"..Co-op school takes
the kids away  every day,
any who work
drive early and late."

Carry down home
fixed in your heart
it's broken just now
where it really is.