gathered at our stomping grounds,
outside the stage door,
where once an empty alley stood,
now a modern high-rise towers.
All those faces, still familiar,
yet worn, with years of laughter,
a few shed tears,
and wisdom gained
from life lived, fullest.
Some are missing, to be sure,
their absence felt,
claimed by illness or misadventure,
when forty years have passed,
Fate takes its toll.
But when the lights go up,
the band begins to play,
like tonic, the rhythm pulses
through our veins,
the years melt away.
This goes to show,
though time never slows,
and youth so slyly
slips away,
you're never too old
to Rock and Roll!
© 2016 D M Shepherd
