There and Back Again

I’m my mind I could recall All those friends faces Almost hear voices as I sat in old loved places A callow youth when I arrived, A misfit out of time and place, Trying but not quite succeeding To put on a confident face. A uniform that barely fitted My long skinny frame Supposedly a trained soldier But really only in name. I couldn’t ever imagine, though In theory I had acquired the skill, To threaten another human being And, If necessary shoot and kill. But there was a whole new world Just beyond the camp gate There to be searched and learned And I could hardly wait. And so I found the village At the end of a wooded road And so began for me A significant episode. It seemed to welcome me With not quite open arms But, like my own home village A place full of rustic charms. For almost three years that village Helped me mature and grow Taught me so many things A man really needed know. I discovered sex and love I discovered how to care Had a life within my life In the hours I spent there. Posted so suddenly i didn’t Have chance to say goodbye But I kept it neatly filed away Nestled there in my mind’s eye Nearly fifty years later I found my way back Wandered there down A well remembered track At a time of loss and grief A time of hopeless despair And, almost unchanged My village was still there. I wandered old paths sad that My friends had all long gone But in that quiet peaceful place I found the strength to move on. Conventional wisdom advises We shouldn’t revisit the past But I’m glad i made that visit Though I think it will be my last