The Way We Were

Twenty Years Ago
Singer: Kenny Rogers

It's been a long time since I walked
Through this old town
But oh how the memories start to flow
And there`s the old movie house
They finally closed it down
You could find me there every Friday night
Twenty years ago.

I worked the counter at the drugstore down the street
But nobody's left there I would know
On Saturday mornings that`s where
All my friends would meet
You'd be surprised what a dime would buy
Twenty years ago.

All my memories from those days come gather round me
What I'd give if they could take me back in time
It almost seems like yesterday
Where do the good times go?
Life was so much easier twenty years ago.

I guess I should stop by Mr. Johnson`s hardware store
His only son was my friend Joe
But he joined the army back in 1964
How could we know he would never come back
Twenty years ago.

Was idly googling stuff on the net when I came across this, this and this. And unbidden tears sprang to my eyes. Never realised just how much I missed this home of my growing up days. Never realised how pained I would be at the betrayal of my memory which did not let me remember the names of places whose picture is crystal clear in my mind.
I have to, just have to visit it. Now I know what Eliot meant when he wrote:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring will be
To arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

From Four Quartets