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Beside The Graveled Lane




Beside The Graveled Lane


 Remember me
I was once your
Little Girl

I roamed your barnyard
And climbed your
Apple trees

When I was a child
You stood bigger than life
Always with a fresh coat
Of white paint trimmed in green

You were my shelter
When the long day was done
And tractors were allowed
To rest at last

In moonlight's glow
Our 'Family' farm
Stood huge in my child's eyes

In actuality you were
Like so many small time
Operations tended
For generations
By the same blood
That plowed your soil
And planted your crops

Beside shaded lane you stood
Where upon graveled path
Bare feet became calloused
To the sharpness of its stone

Only was felt the warmth
Of your assurance
Of yet many days to come

Today...

It is the inner child
That remembers you and weeps
At the memory
Of when I saw you last

Too weary you were
To continue the fight

No longer
Reflected the rays of sun
Upon dirt streaked windows
That even now
Seldom feels the rain

But once ...

The windows of your soul
Caught the first glimpses
Of dawn and welcomed
A little girl to a new day

Today ...

You stand upon graveled lane
And search to remember
The swing that once hung
Just outside your door

Yesterday ...

You would not have had
To search to remember

Today ...

The sound of falling plaster
Is all that is heard

Yesterday ...

The very same plaster
soaked in the memories
That brought you your smiles

Dear Heart
Are you as the tree
In the forest
Where the sound
Of your falling can
Only be heard by those who
Truly care to listen

Today ...

You are but a memory
of dinner dishes
Being washed and dried
Beside a sink
That went without
Running water for years

As I grew you grew also
Making it no longer necessary
to make a quick call
To an outside building
In the middle of the night

And yet no matter where
We had succeeded or failed
You were always home

A young child's fears seemed
Somehow easier to bare
Within the safety of your walls

The night was my own
With no worries until tomorrow
Often lulled to sleep
By the crickets
That sang their song upon the
Stillness of the night

Your today stands as does
The today's of so many
Childhood's homes

Left for awhile
As only a shell upon
A landscape of broken dreams
Where dieing is almost merciful

Abandoned because yet another
Small family farmer
Could no longer
Fight the elements and compete
With the rising costs
To continue the journey

Uncertainties now given way
To the reality that the battle
Has at last been lost

Your tomorrow ...

Oh my friend it pains my heart
To tell you that there
Will be no tomorrow

You will become a piece of land
That when looked upon
Has no landmark and no pride
Of the decades that one family
Called you home

Sadly with you
Goes the graveled lane

The presence of
Where you once stood
Fades into another
Small family farmer's nightmare
And the dreams
They so unwillingly leave behind

Generations of family  
All of one blood
Somehow still lives within
The whispers of your memory

And now

Goodbye is the only choice

Rest in peace home of my childhood
Oh and the answer to the question
Of a tree falling in the forest
With no one to hear its cries
As you yourself cried to live on

Oh yes dear friend

I hear ...
I hear

Original by Lesa Gay
Aka
Aspiring Angel

Audio
Lil Pain - Memories (Instrumental)












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