Adrift in a bountiful land, that suffers from a third world mentality,

The tattered morale finds itself completely at a loss.

A broken spirit has no counsel to turn to

Such counsel does not exist here,

  where indigenous community is a different breed 

  and has no empathy for the plight of a fellow being.

Good manners have no place here.

Narcissi grow in abundance.

One’s acts of kindness, perceived as a flawed personality.

Solitude prevails – Long periods spent in lone contemplation.

Sickness - A steed, which must be ridden bare-back and unyielding.

And so, as one looks out on the stunning terrain,

One admires the paradise and concedes the paradox

Like so many enchanting places ...this land is beautiful – its people are not.

They do not cherish what they have, nor do they value life in any form.

Intrigue and expectation bring many explorers

Disillusionment and suicide are common modes of departure

One has to wonder, must the road back be the only way forward?

Can one only return to the fold, when in search of something warm and secure,

Even though that fold holds nothing to entice?

...or is one’s fate the same as that of all those who have departed before us?