My computer’s dancing.

I swear, I can see it
Swaying to the music of
The 5^th Dimension.

Quintuplets of the heart,
I close my eyes to
Their quintessential harmony,
And the bird’s eye view
Of my mind
Shows reruns of 1966.

The Mt. Vernon bus
Turns the corner on High Street,
Driving past the old Clock Restaurant
With the grandfather clock on the sidewalk
That looked as goofy as my big brother.

Department stores
Named for strange people like
S.S. Kresge and H.L. Green
Had two shops each on the street…
I never knew what that was all about.

“Those were the days,”
The song goes,
When the center of town remained
A destination,
Especially during the Christmas parade
When you could see the Santa twins;
Lazarus had one and
The Union did, too.

It was forty years ago,
But I think of places like that
In a time that seemed much simpler;
The warmth of those memories
Lets the sunshine into my heart,
Just like The 5^th Dimension sang
So long ago.

© 2006 by Robert E. Blackwell