Never be More

~

what do they say? 

in that hackneyed phrase,

you can take the man

out of the place, but not 

the place out of the man,

I go back there more now

to see the old boys, catch up

over coffee, face the jeopardy 

of a recycled raffle prize win,

I’m careful to never be more

than a visitor, it wouldn’t do 

to look too comfortable, 

act like I owned the place

attract unwanted attention, 

be the ‘big I am’,

you see I left them all,

was unfaithful once

never to be forgotten

I tore myself away, perhaps

the old place wasn’t good 

enough for him 

I can imagine they said,

and such treachery, well,

it can’t ever be forgotten,

so, I move carefully through 

recounting old times, schoolboy 

japes, games we played, 

secret places, girls we knew

who married who and

where they are now, 

but no matter how much 

I’d like to be embraced

I can never be more than

the one that got away

who ‘did alright’, who broke 

the invisible chain,

no matter how pleased

they seem to see me

back in the village, 

home again, the link hangs there

fractured and rusting

*

© Graham R Sherwood 02/24