You Can Go Home Again
 Forest Park at The Overlook (2005). |
By Tara McHugh, nee Girsky
In Kew Gardens,
the parks tended the children,
rolling hills, the nests of our youth.
How we would roll,
gathering speed,
hearts racing,
hands entwined
laughing at the thrill
of freedom.
Later
those hills we glided
on skates and boards,
bikes and sleds
In Kew Gardens
we found our freedom
and we met our challenges.
 In front of Blenderman's on Lefferts Boulevard (2001). |
We learned responsibility
at the local merchants
at Blenderman's Butcher,
and at Bobby's dad's fish store.
Those solitary walks
gave us time to think
and wonder.
To this day the smell of tulips
remind me of wonder.
Each house had rows of them
some behind white picket fences
some in circles
in front of tall apartment buildings.
It is sad when one can never go home again.
When landscapes alter
 A house with garden on Beverly Road at Onslow Place (2005). |
and the mom and pop stores
have folded under the weight
of heavier chains.
But in Kew Gardens,
you can go home again.
History remains.
Mrs. Gray still owns the bicycle shop
where Wendy and I rode our first
Two seated bike,
laughing and arguing
over who was not peddling
hard enough.
And the park remains.
continuing to tend the children,
it's rolling hills, thrilling, still
The baseball field and
 Gray's bicycle shop on Lefferts Boulevard (2003). |
handball courts,
creating memories
for new generations.
If I close my eyes,
I can feel my fathers hand in mine,
as I slide down the tallest slide.
I can smell the tulips
from those walks of my youth.
Yes,
In Kew Gardens,
you can go home again.