It was Penwortham
I was younger
And it all started there
From my banana poetry
To my first kiss
With a lass with crimson hair

She was American
She was Julie
The new girl in school
It was a long time ago
From the saga Miss Wilson
To the shadow of Mr Snape

There was bramble picking
Along the disused railway
And an orchard hidden from view
There were modern houses
Made of Lego bricks
All plastic and see through

And down we all went
Sneaking down Hill Road South
There to a haunted house
As quiet as 5 blind mice

An old and grotty country house
It was a sight for sore eyes
When we got the dogs barking
We decided to run for our lives

We moved away to a derelict house
In the Avenham area in decline
After a brief stop in a crazy pot
We packed our bags again

When I became a man and stubborn
I burst out of the family nest
Declared my self homeless
With no bed to share or rest

Ended up in a crazy place
Yeah right on Hill Road South
And a stones throw from where
Lay the foundations of that haunted house

Now the railway path was long gone
A bypass had sliced through the fields
No more walking free of smog
This is what modernization yields

I came full circle wasn’t that weird
Yet it was the lowest point of my life
Sat in a dull drab box of concrete
I even wanted to finish my life

I’ve not been down Hill Road South
For over twenty years
I believe they’ve knocked down The Maltings
Just memories of yesteryear

In that modern dungeon
I wrote lots of my first poetry
Got published in Peterborough
In what became Forward Poetry

Now as I look back and reminisce
The haunted house , the Maltings gone
Leyland Bus another poetry haunt
And many pubs all closed

What will become of my history
I feel a thousand doors close behind me
Cancelling out what I have ever done
A final chapter where I haven’t begun

So now I look back on that winding road
That has no character and no charm
It seems to be the very road haunting me
Treating me like a pig on a mudless farm

©Darren Hobson, owner of the when poetry flows brand and self publishing poet

https://www.amazon.com/Darren-Hobson/e/B00KSE