Homecoming

“I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Throughout the maelstrom of adolescence

I could not wait to break free and explore

The world beyond home, in all its resplendence

Shone in my star-struck eyes that longed for more

**

Towards adulthood I marched with eager anticipation

Free to journey, and find magic on my own

Broke free from the reins in a surge of exhilaration

Set out for exotic, foreign lands all alone

**

Bewitched was I by novel experiences galore

Brash and audacious, each moment I savored

Each adventure made me long for some more

Home was forgotten, this was the life I favored.

**

Joie-de-vivre I thus captured in my travel

Never stayed long, never formed any ties

Did not get attached to soil, sand or gravel

Did not lose my heart, I thought I was wise

**

Shared many moments with strangers complete

Told countless stories to folks mesmerized

There was no emotion for me that could compete

With the lure of travel in the whole world wide.

**

The slowly shifting sands of time, meanwhile

Were exacting on my body and mind, their toll

No longer as young, courageous or virile

I was forced to attend to the stirrings of my soul

**

With no one around to call my own

My rootlessness suddenly became pronounced

As I realized this, an inadvertent groan

Escaped my lips and off my heart bounced..

**

A sharp pain lodged itself in my chest

Like a spear had pierced me through and through

I realized I had wasted the years that were best

Without forging ties, and now it was true

That I was alone, for love I now longed

Nostalgia for home suddenly engulfed me

I decided to journey back to where I belonged

The old dusty town that existed by the sea.

**

My hometown had changed for the better

In all the decades I had been away

A stranger again, but it did not matter

It was still my home, what else could I say?

**

I knelt by the sea, and picked up the sand

Touched it to my forehead, inhaled the smell

Tears filled my eyes as it flowed through my hand

I was finally home, and all was well!