Not For Sale

our parents dwelt amid shabby chicness

old Victorian elegance in Grantham Hall

its upper floor apartment spacious with tall

windows, eyes wide open on Wellswood below

a wrought iron staircase in need of a warm coat

to cover the emergence of rust patches

an annexe where Grandma's sixth sense

always meant she was the first to greet you

three decades gone, a for sale board on display

i took a virtual tour with the hope of recalling more

more memories, yet i barely recognise the inside

so upmarket this new look, so lavish, so not them

Reviews

[Lydia Shutter]

Oh yes, I can relate to this one. 20 years after moving out of the home I grew up in, I returned to New Jersey. I took a photo of the front of the house and the new owner came out. I explained why I was taking the photo and she asked me if I wanted to see the inside of the home. My old bedroom was now an office and my parents' bedroom had been expanded. The kitchen was modernized. I hardly recognized my home....time changes everything, but memories are forever ours. Great write. Lydi**

[Chris Shaw]

We really shouldn't be tempted to go back should we Lydi**. We have our memories and it is best we stick with them. You know that old expression, curiosity killed the cat. I felt a bit like that. Many thanks for calling on this read.

Chris

[Dhara_Ditzy Kat]

I hope to be back soon to read more of your beautiful words, my dear friend. Just beginning to get back bit by bit from a disrupted life. I hope all is fine with you. You are missed.

[Chris Shaw]

Hope you get your life back to where you want it dear friend. Good to hear from you. You take great care. You are after all my favourite Kat :))

[Dhara_Ditzy Kat]

I think they lived in the most beautiful of times. A bygone era that can never be replicated again. They don't make such beautiful houses or people anymore. They now live on in our hearts always.

[Chris Shaw]

The architecture has certainly changed. They didn't have alot of money, but there was a certain elegance in where they lived. There is no elegance at all in modern architecture in my opinion. It all looks space age to me. Showing my years now dear Ditzy. Thank you so much for visiting.

Chris

[.]

As an apartment dweller I can relate to this poem, dear Chris. Admittedly my building and apartment is in quite good renovated condition for its age, but its the untouched spaces that i adore the most. They just give off this quiet sense of history that makes me feel I am just a small part of a lot of humanity that came before. I always find it sad when reckless renovators or property developers kill off the old charm of a building or apartment for the sake of the euro. So, i appreciate your memories of your older home and I commiserate with you on all that is now lost. This is a really touching poem and it hits deeply for many, i would imagine. Lovely writing. :))

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Jamila, like you I find it rather sad that original features are discarded for the more modern. This apartment had been ripped apart. It had the soul blitzed from it. I should have known better, I shouldn't have taken a peek :)) Thank you so much for your thoughts. Take care.

Chris

[Dave Brown]

so sad to see warmly remembered places fall under the renovator or wrecker's axe

[Chris Shaw]

It is indeed Dave. Best left with our memories. Many thanks for calling on this one. You are appreciated my friend.

Chris

[Betty Hermelee]

It still amazes me when a house is sold and your memories are still vivid, then you go back to visit, and it's not the same at all. You portray this feeling in a special way. I can still see the old furniture in my old apt, in NYC; now it's broken up condo!!! Nice read Chris! Fondly, Betty

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Betty. I think I have been taught a lesson. Don't be tempted to go back. Everything changes, and not always for the better. Thank you so much for visiting these words of mine.

Chris

[Samuel Dickens]

This is lovely, sentimental and sad. It seems a sin... or at least a crime to steal away an old place's charm and try to make it something else. Several years ago, I returned to the old house where I grew up and found it empty of yesterday's ghosts.

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Sam. Hope you are yours are OK. You know they do say you shouldn't go back. It just leads to disappointment. Curiosity got the better of me. I was hoping to relive some of the past, maybe to find something new. Instead it was somewhere I didn't recognise. Good to have you visit. Take care in these troubled times.

Chris

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

I can relate
We lived in a lovely federation brick with my grandfather
He raised his family there and my father only ever lived there And raised his five there so has a lot of history
I drive past it a few times a year
My old front small bedroom now a bathroom yuk
The Side gates new wrought iron doesnt suit preferred the white lattice

I looked at interior pics on net and the two back sunny bedrooms now a large open family room which got rid of the old back hallway my mothers narrow old fashioned kitchen remodeled open plan onto the family room
The back hedge outside second toilet and outside laundry there still
It just not the same
Old wooden front door and heavy old fashioned iron security door there
The shrubs outside my parents windows still there makes me sad
I try not to be sentimental
But so many memories
I wish I could just walk inside and smell my mums cooking

Ps really loved your poem

[Chris Shaw]

Dear Julie, so pleased you could relate to this poem. Thank you for sharing with me too. I appreciated the detail you provided. Take care.

Chris

[Julie McCarthy (juliespenhere)]

Thanks have a good night there
It’s nearly nine am Sat I’m watching a cash special on tv when he went to SAN Quentin and eating my boiled eggs and soldiers lol

[Julie McCarthy (juliespenhere)]

Sorry it’s Sunday omg

[Julie McCarthy (juliespenhere)]

Too much Cash lol

[redzone]

loved this poem Chris.... since moving from NYC back to the city I was born, I have on occasion visited my old neighborhood and the house we lived in from the time I was 4 til I graduated HS... my last journey through the neighborhood was an enlightenment.... from what has changed to what remains basically the same.... the house is pretty much the same, with only minor facial changes, but the area is way different, no more grade school (1 through 6), no more Sammy's Steaks or Fidelity St Fish Market.... and the local store where my parents sent us to buy them cigarettes and where my brother and I bought penny candy from the money earned collecting paper and bottles, replaced by a beauty salon that is now boarded up.... and the hospital I was born in (as was my mom) is now gone and replaced with a school...

I think whether the changes that we see from our past are good or bad, nothing remains the same as so many have mentioned in their comments.... I remember that old house fondly, my brother and I making a fort of the back porch and sleeping out on hot summer nights; collect horse chestnuts or playing 50 more and staying out until the street lights came on.... but mostly I remember the people, our neighbors and some of my friends.... especially Jimmy who lived down the street but died when only 16 from a second head injury.... or George, who threw a mean curve ball for our 5th grade baseball team, but who was sent away because he killed his father for beating on his mother all the time....

so many memories Chris, and they all came rushing back as I read your wonderful poem.... thanks for the great read and for including us in your memory.....

[Chris Shaw]

Dear Curt, I am thrilled that by reading my poem, it brought back to you so many vivid memories of your own experiences. It was a delight to read your thoughts. Thank you so much for your in depth review and for sharing with us. Really appreciate your visit. Keep safe in these troubled times.

Chris

[Abhishek Asthana]

Many of the beings can relate to it...End is found so emotional... Beautifully written... Keep writing and sharing !!

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Abhishek for your welcome response. Please accept my apologies for my tardy reply.

Chris