Friday 20 March 2015

Free of Traffic Lights



I love the city's sights
The traffics constant hum
The bustling mindless crowd
The busker as he shouts out loud
With a call to buy his wares

I see the flashing neon signs
Seduction at its best
For each sparkling eye
Persuading you to buy
And take your prize along

The rumble of the subway train
As I ride back home alone
Others eyes look askance
As they drift off in a trance
So many strangers in this town

But there is another me
That yearns for further fields
Where everyone you know
And the pace of life is slow
The country where I was born

The corner shop and the local pub
Where all do laugh and drink
The old farmer chats with me
Hoping that some rain he'll see
For I am welcome here

I see the nurse from the hospital
The doctor is playing cards
With the barber and others too
They all have a drink or two
As this is Friday night

It's just a walk to see some sport
It's not a cent to see my team
As a game is played upon the park
Neighbours smile at me in the dark
How I wish I lived back here

For friends will wave on Main Street
For no-one gives a hoot
The local dog turns not a hair
It is how to live without a care
So free of traffic lights

Image found at www.abc.net.au

29 comments:

  1. Home is where the heart is.

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  2. What a beautiful trip through time and space...the lull of background noise is dream like are we quite there or thinking of where we'd rather be? I think I'm with Rosey on my choice

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  3. Join me Monday lunchtime at the village pub opposite the daffodil-adorned green at Five Ashes where I go every week for a chinwag with the other locals. There will be a pint waiting on the bar for you!

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  4. So enjoyed your reminiscing poem this morning. I'll be going back to my hometown in May, where there is only a traffic light in the very center of main street and the highway that passed through town.

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  5. This is beautiful. It really touched me. It reminded me of when I lived abroad and ached for home every second of every day.

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  6. such a wonderful depiction of slowing time down to listen to the slow bustling of a small town.

    gracias

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  7. I so wish to live in a place like that... as in literally free of traffic lights & of hard blowing horns &... I can only sigh. Thanks for the poem!

    - ksm

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  8. it's so difficult to find such a place of dream these days...a beautiful poem

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  9. I like the two images..and I think as humans we need both. The familiar and the adventurous... A place that's home and the neon glitz.

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  10. I love the nostalgia and the rhythm of the poem - a sweet calming mantra of life with peace and connection

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  11. I came from the province and it was quite a shock to live in a big city. I have adjusted well with the environment, but there is always longing for a quieter place. Thanks for bringing back memories Robin.

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  12. You make that nostalgia seem so seductive! And the photo is perfectly chosen - such a typical Aussie country town, right down to the name of the pub. (Smile.)

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  13. I enjoyed the nostalgia in this, the yearning to go back in time, to that place in our memories where time almost seems to stand still! This poem gives me a restful feeling!

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  14. WONDERFUL contrast, with a turn in the middle from strangers to welcomes. The land that seems deprived of modernity has much to recommend it, not least the community ball game for free. I remember in my town--with one blinking traffic light--the volunteer firemen's yearly fair where we played games for pennies to raise money for equipment and those in need. We gatherd at teh firehhouse, not a local pub, but the comradery was just as real.I like the lack of traffic lights in your town as a promise that everything is possible, that you can leave but also return.

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  15. This is such a wonderful poem of memory I want to come help you pack so you can have some years back home!!!!!! I know the yearning for a beloved place. Maybe time for a visit?

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  16. There's no place like home, as a young man couldn't wait to get away as time goes can't wait to get back there. Nice one!

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  17. I dream of going back to the place where no traffic lights intrude or loud noises...the slow life. We now live more in the country so it is a bit slower and quieter....love the two worlds here.

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  18. This poem resonates such peace and tranquility... amazing!
    xoxo

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  19. A wonderful tribute to the place you grew up. Good job with the contrasts and the poetic rhythm. Thank you for visiting my blog

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  20. I spent a good chunk of time living in the mountains among a small community that was peaceful and serene. Quite different from the hustle and bustle of the city. Perks to living in both. Sometimes though you just need the quiet.

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  21. You so accurately capture the pull of both the urban and the rural. Sometimes I think I will move to a small town when I retire, but then I think of the paucity of important services in such places and I wonder if I'm best off in my little house on a train line, just three miles from all of downtown's delights and one of the world's greatest medical centers.

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    Replies
    1. How right you are Ann. It was a bit tongue in cheek of me to write about doctors and hospitals in rural Australia.

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  22. Ah, I am living in that small microcosm, where, indeed, everyone knows your name, and the doctor and the farmer sit down to a game of chess, in the village cafe, while the children play unguarded in the square.

    You expressed it so well. Happy thoughts.

    Poppy

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  23. You have such good memories of your home town. It sounds like such a warm place. I'd reminisce about it too if I'd grown up there.

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  24. Ah, the conundrum...for every place has its pros and cons and every place can have a little piece of our hearts.

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  25. i guess every dog has its day :D

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  26. This poem captures my own environment as well. I take a train to the city at times; enjoy the experiences there, but soon grew tired of the busy life and crowds. My train journey back to home, leads me to countryside and a smaller population..

    Eileen

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  27. Yes, I remember a town like that. A small town.

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