I drove through my childhood
this afternoon
past the street I used to ride up and

down
and it all came back to
me the feelings so familiar but
different somehow a different flavour
mint-flavoured Magnum by the river
where I first realised water was alive
and where the ambulance had to
drive that one time at 3am in the

morning the house looked the same in its new coat
but the garden was
different I once was quiet
watching the firefighters in the winter blaze
through binoculars

and I drove on through
feeling more adult by action
but more
child by my nostalgic spirit