On Halloween I walked alone
Silent and bad-tempered
I was no longer a child
And nothing was as I remembered

Wandering past dark homes,
Having found the evening plain
I found the last road with lights still on
And drifted down Memory Lane

The first home was mine,
Before my parents downsized
The cookies taste like they used to
Before my parents died.

The next home was my best friend’s
Inseparable in in our youth
She gives me a slice of birthday cake
She was 12 when they moved

The third home was my teacher’s
I had decided he deserved a trick
I help him clean away the paint
His sin was merely being strict

I do not knock at the last, bright home
With towers and slides on display
It’s the house I once wished to live in
But it does not fit who I am today

On Halloween I walk alone
I watch the children with glee
it is not as I remember
but it is not only for me