Field of the Unreturning

I keep returning to the field where once I yearned

a drifting hush lies over all that waits to fall

and hear the voice of the child who first had yearned

A crown of wilted daisies shows what time has burned

their petals trembling at the season’s call

I keep returning to the field where once I yearned

The creek repeats the truths I never fully learned

its glitter flickering against the coming fall

and hear the voice of the child who first had yearned

A chapel’s distant bell rings thin, its metal turned

by years of weather pressing toward their fall

I keep returning to the field where once I yearned

The moonlight bares the paths where hope once burned

each trace diminishing beneath the pull of fall

and hear the voice of the child who first had yearned

I kneel where long-lost dreams once rose and wildly burned

their warmth now fading with the restless fall

I keep returning to the field where once I yearned

and hear the voice of the child who first had yearned