dave steger

Nostos

I want to go back
Back to the narrow streets
The rod iron lined alleys
with the children's faces all dirtied
As the Molasses Tax debates
echoed from the tavern

I want to go back
I want to go back

Smell the smoke stacks
rising over the sea by Flint Glass
To a time when a name was a name
and Scollay Square
gleamed with optimism

I want to go back
Smell the public gardens greenhouse
Sleep amongst the glamour of light
in the Hotel Vendrome
and play tennis in the white of Franklin Park

I want to go back
I want to go back

To a time when the suburbs were the country
and the country was the wilderness
Swim amongst the innocence and
love in a candlelit sea of guilt
I want to go back
I want to go home