POEM - Vale of Tempe

I have been away
For a very long time
From a place
That feels like a home
One left behind
One place I long for
Either in imagined memory
Or actual longing
For familiar ways

But it is becoming mythology
The more years I am away
And the neighbors I knew
Are now the children
Of the children I knew
And others own the present
And I am left with
A box of memories
That only have bits and pieces
Still in the present

And when I look at the city
I see a Tempe of memory
Old buildings
Replace mondern edifice
And I see long ago
Overlaying now

Thankfully there are places
Where I once was
That are still the same
Anchors still in my heart
Walls I can sit within
That are the walls I used to know
Where the vale of the past
Is thinner
Closer
Where I can weave between
Flowing streams of time
Dip my feet in different waters
Feel my younger self
Alive in a moment
When moments
Were all I was aware of