No Return Poem by Catman Cohen

Listen to the school bell
Ring
Distant plaintive
Wail

Beyond anything the mind can
Comprehend

And return to a deserted field
Where spirited girls and boys
Once played

Before
Becoming mature
Women and men

When I hear the laughter
Childish screams
And ghostly
Cheers

I can feel a world at
Peace
Overcoming my
Fears

Of a future without
Love
And the solitude I
Chose

Of a future without
Birth
And the terminus
Imposed

Didn't I hear a sprightly piano
Plinking through a
Window
Near that faded
School yard?

Reminds me of you
Bright girly radiance
Dressed in
Black
Leotard

Dancing all the time

We were carefree
Back then
Before the days of
Wrinkled
Women
Defeated
Silver
Men

Can I return to that time
With my old soccer ball?

Play with young spirits
Long passed away

Can I redo the errors
Stamped upon my life?

Recapture
Lost hopes
Yesterday

That's a sharp
School bell
Ring

Distant plaintive wail

Beyond anything the mind can
Comprehend

But there's no return
To a deserted field
Where spirited girls and boys
Once played

Before
Becoming mature
Women and men

There's no return to
The beginning

No return

When you've
Reached
The
End