My Old Home Town

My Old Home Town

By Robin Lee Shelby

I took a trip today to my old home town

After many years away

So much had changed to those old places

It was a shock for me to see

Gone was the house of my grandmother

That was built so long ago

It had ceilings twelve feet high

And a wood burning stove

Gone was the hospital where I was born

On a cold February morn

A two story clothing store

Was built where it once stood

Gone is the theater where movies played

And I viewed them all

Now there is just a parking lot

With row upon row of cars

Gone are the places along the way

The train and bus stations have been torn down

A four lane highway now runs

Where the swimming pool once was

A shopping center now mars

Where a stand of trees once grew

And where there was once a school yard

Hundreds of storage units now wait

Only the cemetery seems the same

But it’s a lot larger now

In it are so many of my family and friends

That have long since passed away

My grammar and high schools still stand

But they too have changed

Repairs and improvements made

Have shaped a more different place than I recall

The country farm where I grew up

Is now overgrown

With weeds and trees and bramble bush

And a house long since burned down

I would’ve looked further still

But it was more than I could bear

And I can only curse the day

That they created Google Earth