For As Long As You Possess

For as long as you possess the gift of memory Your past will live in you as it does live in me Old friends you remember some with the dead lay And others you have not seen for many a day Fond memories of your old hometown you retain And on your flights of fancy you visit there again And as you walk on a once familiar street Some friends of the past you are happy to meet In the lunch hour in the school yard with them games you did play Before the lust of the wander did lure you away To big towns and cities in the big World out there Far from where you were born and raised you would grow old elsewhere And though you may never visit your first home-town again Good memories of what was today you retain.