Everything Changes

when I visit the city I grew up in

it takes me back

it was the place I took my first real steps in life

the place I made my first mistakes

the place I discovered girls and smoked my first 

and my last 

cigarette

things where different then

things change

I made and lost some good mates

we played football in the school playground

and went fishing in the mill leet behind the bakery

street names now have special meanings to me

the street where I used to live

the street to my primary school

streets where my mates used to live

and the streets where we used to play

things I don't do know

things change

the primary school which taught me many things

including subjects not on the curriculum 

has now been knock down 

as has the big tree which celebrated our arrival home 

to what was 

but is no longer 

number 28

our house

houses have been built on fields I once played in

things look so different now

things change

houses full of people I once knew 

now homes to strangers

shop names have changed

some buildings aren't even shops anymore

the post office is now a chip shop

the streets that once were full of people who knew me 

are full of strangers

or 

maybe I do know some of these people  

only

in the 50 years since I lived here

things have changed

I've changed

we've all changed

everything changes

Raindrops

raindrops fall

and rainwater collects

making puddles which over-flow

forming streams which get trapped 

forming puddles which over-flow once again

as the clouds then depart

and the rain finally stops

all the puddles finally dry

and the streams disappear 

as the sun 

once again 

dries the land

Confusion

Dying.

You mean that which occurs 

or is occurring at 

or connected with 

the time that someone dies

or do you mean the seed-bearing part of a plant

consisting of the reproductive organs that are typically surrounded by brightly coloured petals?

A novel.

You mean a fictitious prose narrative 

of book length

typically representing character and action with some degree of realism

or do you mean a secret word or phrase that must be used to gain admission to a file 

a place 

or a location?

Music.

Do you mean a vocal and instrumental blend 

combined in such a way as to produce beauty in the form of harmonies 

as an expression of emotion

or do you mean a free-swimming marine invertebrate 

with a gelatinous bell or saucer-shaped body that is typically transparent and which can have stinging tentacles around the edge?

An affair.

Do you mean a sexual relationship between two people 

one or both of whom are either married or in a relationship with someone else

or do you mean a long curved fruit which grows in clusters and has soft pulpy flesh and yellow skin when ripe?

Confusion.

Do you mean an inability to think as clearly or as quickly as you normally would

or do you mean being given the definition of something completely different to that which you were asking for?

(Haiku)

Problems? What problems?

Some people would love to have

your problems! Think on.

(Haiku)

Here we go! Yellow

Porsche 'midlife crisis' with

a matching T-shirt

(Haiku)

Portly girth and choice

of snack belyes the marathon 

T-shirt and trainers