-- A Stranger Once More --

John Herlihy

Not a stranger anymore, or am I still?

I have finally retired and come home.

Lived years in other countries,

Other countries, other worlds.

I lived many years among strangers,

Strangers who quickly became friends.

To rely on the good will of strangers,

You soon learn new meaning of friends.

Learned languages, ate spicy foods,

Visited places no one ever sees.

Places people have wanted to see,

Ancient, historical, forgotten, sacred places.

I have visited tombs of potentates,

The high and mighty now laid low.

Suleiman the Magnificent in ash dust,

Dressed in cobwebs amid scattered leaves.

I have wept at the tomb of saints,

Their spirit presence there as perfume.

The tears from surges of ecstasy,

Wrapped in an embrace never assumed.

I moved from country to country,

As a restless wind always on the move.

Settled down in alien cultures, sought bounty,

A stranger ready to be someone’s friend.

I have wandered at night in the desert,

Slept under a canopy of twinkling stars.

Snakes, spiders, scorpions as companions,

A stranger in the wild, with night doors ajar.

When I left a country, I left my heart behind,

Time to move on, willing anywhere to venture.

To become again a stranger of another kind

A piece of me, the stranger, seeking adventure,

As an old man, I now return to my roots,

To live out my final days in my home country.

I have now left my friends of the past behind,

At home, I find myself a stranger once more.

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Copyright © John Herlihy 9 September 2020