Songs From The Past (Poetry)

I hear them in my head —
those curious old tunes.

They crackle from memory’s aging radio
its wandering waveband
fading in and out
that soft tide rolling with familiar melodies
to break on the heart’s inmost shore.

However corny-sounding now
those lyrics tease back — lift clean away —
the edges of the past
to reveal a land youth surely visited
where echoes of long-dead voices
join in forever’s sing-along
sometimes carelessly off-key
and la-la-la-ing verses lost
but no matter they forget some words
the sentiment rings true.

More and more
I listen out for them ...
straining eagerly to catch
the first nostalgic notes
of music’s journey through the dark
across the swelling seas
that measure out what’s left
                                of time.