Dear Ravensbourne Poem by Paul Reed

Dear Ravensbourne!
So close to my heart
Yet sadly out of reach,

There, in my mind
But untouchable,
A pebble on the beach

Among other memories,
Or gathered and circling
Like seagulls on the wing

Too high to join,
A separate world
I can no longer live in;

Your grounds still lie there
Under other feet
Joyously trampled and run

Where ours used to be
At the very beginning
When the story had just begun;

Your brick walls still stand
But under another's gaze
Warmed by a different light

The apple tree uprooted
The greenhouse disappeared
Into eternal night;

The great days surge endlessly
Deep into my mind
Become emblazoned and etched

The happy Saturdays,
The far-off times
On a canvas sketched;

Dear Ravensbourne
You mean so much
Beside me but nowhere near

A drifting star
Pin-pricked in the sky
But shining so bright and clear.