Emily Hurd: SONGS

It was years ago,
But I still can go to
Places in my mind of a better time
When people said hello.
On the narrow roads
Where you could almost taste dew on Queen Anne’s lace,
And rain was good news.


Neighbors talked each day.
Strangers weren’t so strange.
And life had slower pace. Now it’s just a race to
See who’s got the most. Who’s the better host.
But this seems like a show. Won’t you make it go
The way it used to.

My old house is gone.
Now it’s just a lawn.
For someone else’s place. Everything’s a maze of
Pretty picked fence.
And I get the sense that
This is the new trend. Soon will be the end of
Days that I knew.

Flowing fishing brook.
Reading an old book.
By gold and yellow spun underneath the sun.
But we’ve built around
Where there once was ground
Where grass grew high as me. Won’t you make it be
The way it used to.

It’s funny how we all
Cling to all the small things
Keeping us in tact. I know I do that.
Every little smell
Triggers a whole well of
Feelings from inside. And all the lovely times
I’d stay beside you.

Breakfast in the night.
Sleeping in the light.
Fires on the shore. Lying on the porch.
Now my heart has grown. Harder than a stone.
It’s turnin into steel. Won’t you make it feel
The way it used to.


Written by Emily Hurd