Back at the deserted parking lot
Back at the deserted parking lot, every year, there was a
carnival that came alive with lights
Out by the freeway, young boys laughing riding the Tilt a
Whirl ah, those warm summer nights
Long paved over, filled now with progress and commerce, they’re
now memories that I loved most
And there’s a subdivision over one, shopping center over the
other, those drive-ins we used to boast
Special places off farm fields that we used to camp and ride
our dirt bikes across like we owned it all
Are now new homes, and roads adorn those hills we rode
across, at one end there’s even a shopping mall
Take me away from this time, put me back, put me so far back
Back at the deserted parking lot, yes that time was so much
simpler you see, cause we didn’t ever worry
Tomorrow was coming, next week too, we enjoyed every day and
we saw no reason for us to hurry
Then day by day, year by year things started to change,
though our days seemed the same we knew
Friends were no longer standing by our side, our days of
innocence and naivety were now through
Then we lost people forever, their deaths tearing gaping
holes in our happy warm summer nights
The once large group now numbering a few, heavier and grayer
still longing to see those lights
Back at the deserted parking lot, smell the midway, see all
those young faces that we once wore
Close your eyes and see those no longer there, then wonder
aloud why we don’t spend time there more
Back at the deserted parking lot, remembered more fondly
than anything they could ever erect
We split for schools far away, some left to go right, all of us
seemingly walled away over who we elect
Back at the deserted parking lot, the decisions were easy,
and my memory says we always chose well
Maybe it’s just a case of selective memory, or maybe I made
it all up; one things for certain, I’ll never tell
Tim Windisch
01/27/2024
