could this be home

when you pass through small towns

heading west

past winchester and beyond

you wonder, not out loud,

so as not to worry your passenger,

but you wonder

if you could live there.

could you be happy in this place.

with its one main road,

the general store,

a barber shop, a cafe,

all with windows

gleaming in the morning light.

and there in the fields are horses.

there are weather vanes, rusted

and pointing on the peaks

of barns, there is tall grass

and playgrounds,

a clapboard church,

a school house.

could you live here, could this

be home.

you'll never know.