Home?

Born in a town
Where mountains meet lakes
A place full of beauty 
And Miss Potter’s fair creatures.

A childhood well spent
On a council estate
In a typical small town
Somewhere in the Dales

Youth on the green
With many a game
From dawn until dusk
Always somewhere to be

A shire that was hurting
Where caution prevailed
Take care of your loved ones 
Till the Ripper is found

Just ordinary folk
You are not meant to be
Any more than you are
And the things that you see

Don’t ask and don’t wish
Just be thankful you got
Don’t raise up your hopes
They will be crushed anyway

So many cousins
Brothers, sister them all
All of the relatives living nearby
Great-grand parents adored.

Weekends with Grannie
I thought they expected
Such an impression it left
That we no longer speak

Always compared 
To the kids who lived near
They are so……….
And you are so not.

A wedge driven deep 
In a crack already there
A wound often picked
Which won’t fully heal

Picked on at school 
For being too bright
Couldn’t be with the cool kids
Free school dinners set us apart

Years in the making
Things looking up
Friendships and bonding
Secondary school a delight

Now that you’re settled
We’ll uproot and sell up
We’ll travel ‘cross oceans
To a place you’ll adore

A place you’ll know no one
And you’ll never quite fit
No matter how hard you try
The accent gives you away

No frame of reference
No common past
Just pull on a mask 
And pretend there’s no hurt

Forever moving
It never ends
No place that’s called home
No place just to be