Gone But Not Forgotten

I open the gates

And take a trip down memory lane

Everything’s changed since then

My childhood is gone but not forgotten

I remember riding my bike on the driveway

Now there’s a six-car garage in its place

I remember running around the big hallway

Now it’s filled with people

Praising the changes

I remember feeding the fish in the fountain

Now the fountain’s gone

And the fish are long dead

I remember playing on the swing set

Now it’s just a fragment in my memory

I remember playing in my old bedroom

Looking out of the window from that little ledge inside

The realtor tore out the interior walls and made it a living room

But I haven’t forgotten the way it used to be

I remember the giant pool in the backyard

It was fourteen feet deep

I used to jump from the ledge into the water

Now it’s a lap pool

Diminished from its former ways

Like everything I loved about this house

This house is filled with memories

Everything’s changed since then

But there’s still a place in my heart

That yearns for the years of being a kid again

My childhood is gone but not forgotten. 

-Lucy