Reminiscence

The old lane 
cutting through the woods
to the end of the road
was a midnight high school highway,
kids following the call of youth
under shadows thrown down
by conspiring elms and oaks,
limbs seemingly beckoning
to a place of their dreams,
the boys next day 
smiling and bragging,
thinking they were now men,
the girls hoping they weren’t 
carrying the seeds of woodland babes
and vowing to stay home where it’s safe.
Tonight I returned, decades past,
to this hamlet of my youth,
and on my way into town
found and turned down 
this narrow lane for the truth,
the shadowy trees 
now seeming to threaten,
monsters reared on hind legs,
but I took it to the end, 
turned around and said, goodbye, 
my old friend,
followed the pathway out 
and left it there for others to travel
the deceiving lane of life.

The Lane