A special poem about a road that I use to walk on when I was a young child. |
-Maple Road- by Keaton Foster By the lake Down at the end Of a winding road Is another road One not known One not made By any city or state A private drive Leading off into the woods Leading off towards an Eternally distant horizon As a child I would walk it For hours it would go on Into the New England countryside Never reaching its end I was thankful for the journey it provided In time I came to know each curve In time I came to each stone On each side of the road Stood many timeless maple trees Witnesses to my childhood pain As well as the pain of so many others Silent creatures of life That would always lend an ear Sometimes I would pick one to sit under For hours I would escape For hours I would hide in the shade No one would ever find Of course the truth is That no one was ever looking for me The captives of my pain knew More than anyone that ultimately There was no place that I could go Sometimes long after the night would fall But long before the day would again stand tall I would find my way back home Hunger often echoed in my soul Worrisome by design I had to know I was a child of no means And those who held the keys Those who controlled my fate Knew that I would be coming back They would wait for as long as it took They would make me pay If for a second I told them Of the hope and peace I often felt Walking down such a road unknown I never told them, it was my secret My salvation amongst absolute darkness I would never share with them The peace such a path offered me My childhood seemed to last forever Then one day I became an adult A young man own his own I left New England, moving far away Across a thousands of miles of sea Never telling anyone where I had gone Fading into the canvass of existence Many years later I would return Not to see anyone who remained But to walk that unknown road The one that I knew so well I was surprised to find that the area Had been developed and the road paved There were houses and farms Spaced every few miles The road had finally been named Upon a green sign read the words Maple Road Just like I did when I was a kid I walked it for as far as I could Many of my old, silent friends Now much taller and stronger Still lined the way I was sure to say hello to each one of them I was sure to let them know that I was ok And that I had managed to survive Under their shade I made my way On that day I walked further than ever before But still Maple Road went on Further towards an eternally distant horizon… Maple Road Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2012. |