These Halls

The lights go off throughout the school,
Shuffle boarding light across tired walls.
And silence envelopes the dear old halls,
And vacancy now has overruled.

Squeaky sneakers and shaky fingers,
Fluorescent light and tiled floor,
But I don’t come here anymore.
Yet memory’s bitter-sweet scent lingers.

A fortress of Father Time himself,
Knowing what they’ve seen and what they’ve heard,
But they don’t utter a single word;
Silent guardians of childhood wealth.

As emotions bubble, swarming through,
Finding cracks in the walls
To hide their past falls
Shaking violently as former troubles brew.

Yet Wisdom prevails as the walls stand still,
Standing tall at attention
Easing all the past tension,
As far below, unknowing youngsters mill.

I walked these halls in my own time,
Myself exposed
As the walls enclosed,
Setting obstacles only I could climb.

And now it’s done; never again.
It softly slips
As my memory clips
Me out of the coziness of this den.

On I go, my future bright!
This excitement I’m getting,
Yet never forgetting
These Halls.
For in them rests my life.