Gone Home

I hear the toll of the bell, calling my name,
Hearken to a time where ashes remain.
A place that was a wisp of smoke, on the breeze,
The scent of Lilacs drifting among the trees.
As I warm my bones by the fire I know well,
Those days seemed as an enchanted spell.
I left part of my heart on those embers,
Now I sit and fondly remember.
The tears swell as they start to run,
To the days of friends and the sun.
I can't escape the things I left behind,
They are embedded deep in my mind.
Things they said ring in my ears,
Guiding me home after all these years.
I bounce my knee as I patiently wait,
To stand before my impending fate.
The road has been fraught with many perils,
I remember singing Christmas carols.
The can of frogs we caught then forgot,
When mom found them she was happy naught.
The car and the helmets we wore,
As over the roads and hills we tore.
Now as I age it seems too far to reach,
The summers we spent on Silver Beach.
I have forgotten what I can now hear,
The toll of the bells draws so near...