Back Home On A Dream Journey

Like a boat tossed about in a stormy sea

My moods are forcefully swayed

By different feelings merged together

In one mighty stream of thought

In one instance

It is a feeling of drunken joy

In another moment

It is a feeling of utter disbelief

Is it really, really true

That I am finally back home?

Quickly my doubts originating

From the long years of forced exile

Are dispelled by a familiar sight

Of the mountainous terrain surrounding my hometown

Lit up by the dazzling beauty of a sun-set

And when I turn to an old path

I recognize a herdsman

More enhanced in age

Leading goats and sheep to their homes.

But now a powerful sensation overwhelms me

As I get nearer to our house

One after the other these questions

Begin to assault me:

Is it likely that my dear old mother

Will fail to recognize me?

I have heard of my young nephew Messih

Is it true he has shot up like an eucalyptus tree?

I wonder if my boyhood friends have survived

The period of bloody Dergist terror

A burning desire to catch up with everything

Is surging throughout my body like a current.

Suddenly I enter our compound

And I am face to face with my mother

She shows no reaction at first

She seems to be straining her eyes

To make out the image of the stranger before her

I take in impressions of my mother

As a hungry person bolts morsels of food

How she looks different beyond description

Only her kind-looking face remains to evoke old memories.

I call out to her haltingly

M-o-th-er, my dear ma-ma

Do you recognize me?

She hesitates at first

As if struggling to recognize my voice

And then belying her age

She swiftly throws her arms around my neck.

I shall never forget

The cry of her elation

"At last my little boy is back home."

Before we know it

We are surrounded by our family

And we are all awash in hot tears.

(Is it not lovely to go home now as you wish?)

Copyright SWS

6/30/1983