an early greeting to resumed life when things are still
sun is still timid hiding behind leaves and hills
slowly I crawl out and leave the house, quiet
doors open doors close small creaks and scrapes
mark my entrance into the world outside
slumberous dwellings surround to greet the start
and the steps suddenly quicken, pick up pace
soon the buildings end and trees increase
then no buildings, just the curves of the road
and the hills and the trees and the sea
and no sound save for the waves and the birds and my breath
soon the thoughts stream through, at first specific
then disjointed and chaotic
I fixate on a memory, and I relive a conversation in full
but change the words and add new things and even
alter the course of my destiny
as if I were there, in between the breaths and the steps
and then it ends and I realize it was just a memory after all
and I’m very far out now
far from the town, still far from the next town
and it’s so quiet, except for the waves and small breeze in the leaves
and I stop and think “this is as far as I should go” though the road stretches on
inviting me to keep running, the road pulling me further and further away
but that’s as far as I go, and as I turn back to return the same way
back weaving through the same curves and back past the same trees
and back through memories, but different memories
I can’t help but think… I always think
what if I just kept running? how far could I go?
what would happen if I never came back and just kept going?
what would happen with my job and my wife and my child?
would they look for me? would they ever accept me back when they found me?
when I repent and admit I was a fool for running further than I did, without stopping?
would the world blame me for not stopping?
but this is it you see
I did stop
and I came back
and when I did my son was just waking
and my wife was just stirring
and they looked at me and smiled
and I knew
that in a big cold empty universe
I had a home
and that's where I belonged.
