Places past

If I could make a map
Of all the places I have been
And colour the most visited
A vivid shade of green

Our house would be a jungle
My office emerald sea
My Mum's a wood in summer
Sainsbury's a squashed pea

But also on the map
Would be colours fading fast
Corners that were once much loved
Now firmly in my past

These are all the places
I will never stand again
Familiar houses, shops and streets
Now only in my brain

Some are lost forever
Torn down or left to rot
Or residents I knew replaced
By others I do not

The swing in Oma's garden
Where many hours I spent
Long rusted then paved over
For a new development

My Nanna's tiny kitchen
Formica, cork and glass
Someone else now washing up
Since my Nanna passed

Every school and college
Here and overseas
Classrooms, halls and playgrounds
Now distant memories

The playhouse in our garden
Our little home outdoors
Demolished once the roof blew off
And ivy grew up through the floors

My old Guide hut, my drama club
All those dank church halls
I have no reason, now I'm grown
To visit them at all

In every place I linger
I try to leave a sign
A note, a date, a word or two
A mark in space and time

So though it makes my wistful
To recall my haunts of youth
It helps to know that "I woz there"
And left a little proof.