Echoes of Youth: A Bittersweet Journey through Time

The fleeting years, in swiftness flown,

Bring changes vast, both strange and known.

As I, in solitude, on this eve reside,

Memories of mirthful times in me abide.

I strive to summon scenes of youth's embrace,

The humble cottage by the stream's sweet grace,

My father's visage, kind and now unseen,

A distant dream, a specter in between.

In childhood's bliss, I roamed with merry cheer,

Through fields and woods, the wilderness near,

Beholding nature's grandeur, vast and wide,

Her beauty stirred within me joy and pride.

My mother's smile, her touch so tender,

A haven of warmth, love's sweet surrender,

In adventures and worries, her presence held,

An anchor true, in tales of life we'd meld.

Friends, companions of those golden days,

Summer's warmth, carefree in youthful ways,

Collecting flowers, swimming without a care,

Joyous bonds, memories rich and rare.

Johnny, Thomas, and sweet Mary fair,

Their laughter echoes in my mind's air,

Mischief shared in youth's unbridled spree,

Those ties of youth, forever lost to me.

On hillside greens, we lay, clouds drifting by,

Imaginations wild, reaching the sky,

No deeper cares, no thoughts profound,

In youth's embrace, true freedom found.

Yet time, relentless, marches ever on,

Faces fade, like shadows they are gone,

That warm abode, now distant, cold,

Carefree days, a tale no longer told.

Bitter-sweet, these memories remain,

A joy that shall not grace my life again,

Tears silently fall, down cheeks they streak,

Moments lost, Time's fading track they seek.

In darkness, I brood, a mournful state,

Weeping for what's gone, an eternal weight,

As tears cascade, an ever-growing flood,

For youth's sweet pleasures, buried in Time's mud.