Back Roads of My Mind

I walked along the back roads of my mind

And found them overshadowed, as with trees.

The years had crept and, even though were kind,

Had dimmed my vision with alarming ease.

I tried so hard to see those dearest scenes

Which had been so fond in years gone past.

So oft this problem intervenes,

And dim, the future now seems cast.

Oh, the pleasure that I used to feel

When viewing lovely pictures in my memory.

Things of the past had seemed so real

While basking in the world of reverie.

Sometimes a little sunshine filters through

And brings a tiny touch of years gone past.

Too soon the cast is given the "exit" cue

For an act so good---but couldn't last.

Alas---the dimness, as though the sun had set

And shadows from the trees which overgrew the road

Merging, made even dimmer, causing deep regret,

As a screen, now closing on the final episode.

By L. B. Strawn

March 19, 1996