ANDREW BLAKEMORE - The Old School Gate

The old school gate still stands here though
The school has long since gone,
It stands amongst the hedgerow now
And opens for no one,
The school gate leads to nowhere
No one passes through it now,
And it remains so firmly shut
Yet it survived somehow.

Although its frame is rusting well
And crumbling away,
It stands there as a symbol of
A long forgotten day,
A small estate of houses where
The classrooms used to be,
The playground too has vanished now
It breaks my heart to see.

So many times I'd waited here
So many times passed through,
I close my eyes and can recall
The times that I once knew,
The parting and the welcoming
I held my mother's hand,
Beside this gate in front of me
That can now barely stand.

So sad to see it in this state
So many years gone by,
Yet while it lasts my dreams survive
And memories will not die,
The faces of the teachers
And the faces of my friends,
The sight of children playing there
Yet here is where it ends.

ANDREW BLAKEMORE

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-old-school-gate/