Haze in the Valley

Once I returned to this the place of my youth
Dusty, wind-blown, teenagers dangled legs over unfinished walls
Wincing at the nicotine-edged tang of the truth
That life seems aimless when time is unfettered by rules
In the valley where I remembered from my past
Bulldozers worked silently through a stagnant haze
Of dust and flurries of corn, ripped by the vengeful last
Gusts of summer from distant fields; hopeful days
Spent dreaming richer dreams than at night
When dark shapes seemed to hint of darker times
As if in the heat of the day, blue and bright
A dog crawls in the dust and mournfully pines
My valley's full of houses now
Bright red blocks on a field of grey
And the haze has lifted so I see clearly how
The future's shaped, ending yesterday.