Smoke Poem by Barry Middleton

smoke ascending from the camp
fire's protection from the damp

the delta land serenity
the essence of what used to be

a band of brothers from the past
recalls a day that could not last

the strength and energy of youth
a world secure in sturdy truth

and I would go if given time
to find lost memories of mine

but smoke evades a ticking clock
like memory that comes to mock

both drift into impassive skies
as hopes and dreams refuse to rise