The old school gate still stands here though <br />The school has long since gone, <br />It stands amongst the hedgerow now <br />And opens for no one, <br />The school gate leads to nowhere <br />No one passes through it now, <br />And it remains so firmly shut <br />Yet it survived somehow. <br /> <br />Although its frame is rusting well <br />And crumbling away, <br />It stands there as a symbol of <br />A long forgotten day, <br />A small estate of houses where <br />The classrooms used to be, <br />The playground too has vanished now <br />It breaks my heart to see. <br /> <br />So many times I'd waited here <br />So many times passed through, <br />I close my eyes and can recall <br />The times that I once knew, <br />The parting and the welcoming <br />I held my mother's hand, <br />Beside this gate in front of me <br />That can now barely stand. <br /> <br />So sad to see it in this state <br />So many years gone by, <br />Yet while it lasts my dreams survive <br />And memories will not die, <br />The faces of the teachers <br />And the faces of my friends, <br />The sight of children playing there <br />Yet here is where it ends.<br /><br />ANDREW BLAKEMORE<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-old-school-gate/
