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 tressel 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 Inside 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