It's beautiful here in so many ways
the lightning shocks the sky in electric waves
and you can drink the air like warm tea
Away from the pressure of years of sameness
away from hundreds of people with a firm idea of who I am
there’s a freedom here I can’t get in my hometown
But after just a few days, I miss that life
The texture of the silence is less satisfying here
the sky is too big and the trees are too round
Former irritations become nostalgic in the traveler-mind
My unkempt backyard and domestic chores,
even work demands take on a rosy retrospect halo.
There I chafe at the pigeonhole I feel shrinking in around me year-by-year
Here I miss how well my real life “knows” me
and envelopes me like a comfortable protective second-skin.
My wife sends me a text message to “stay in the moment.”
She means it as a reminder to pay attention to schedules and directions.
In a wider context, it’s a good manifesto for the rest of my life.
I should bottle the freedom I feel here
and apply it every morning like perfume
enjoy the things I love (and at least be present for the things I don’t.)
I’ll remember to be anyone I want to be despite what’s expected
I will breathe in the silence and breathe out the craving
to get away to somewhere "new"
when whereever I am can feel new at anytime
if I just determine it to be.
I’ll remember how lucky I am to BE at all.
I’ll be glad to get back home,
but for now I’m content to be
-right here- too.
