I have now returned home
The pilot flies over
This my city of birth
Bustling busy with life
I am the revenant
There is no shame in that
The engines roar, I sigh
The plane drops slowly down
We're dismissed like schoolkids
Stewardess smiles at me
We are freed from her care
My feet now touch home soil
I engage a taxi cab
Takes me to my hotel
Shafts of light filter through
The tall city buildings
I don't remember it
Everything has changed now
But I have too it seems
There is justice in that
There is fluctuation
My thoughts are all jumbled
Stranger in my own city
We must be friends again
I shall walk through the streets
Cut through the alleyways
Breathe in the atmosphere
To claim it back again
Image 1 found at www.flickriver.com
Image 2 founds at www.ctbuh.org
One does feel a certain connection to a home town or just other places that one visits... something that draws us in so magically.
ReplyDeletePowerful write :D
ReplyDeleteWonderful piece.
ReplyDeleteNicely put!Dropping in from Sunday whirls. :)
The world keeps turning even if we take a side step - perhaps the wonderful thing about finding a place we like and we can call home is falling in love with it over and over again..
ReplyDeletewell penned. wonderful reflection and association with past memories
ReplyDeletegracias
everything changes over time...returning to our home town after ages will surprise us but our love for it will always make it so dear to us..
ReplyDeleteReturning home has to be wonderful... I recognise the feeling.
ReplyDeleteA lovely and touching write, Rob.
ReplyDeleteWonderful flow of images (if you don't mind take a look at "thoughts are all jumbled" rhythm seemed to stutter-step here ...maybe lose the "all?" Just a thought on a terrific poem!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I strictly followed a formula of 6 syllables per line and feel loathe to change it now, but could change it to "Thoughts are now all jumbled" which helps a little. However I am still cogitating!
DeleteIt is hard to go home again, i think...it is never quite as we remember it, but then we are looking at everything through different eyes as well. Your poem captured just what it is like to go back very well.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is my new favorite of yours. I love the comparison of self and the changes of the city, love the images all and especially this: "We're dismissed like schoolkids." And I have been enjoying the use of the word "revenant" which I never knew before the film of that name. Your poem reminds me of times I have returned. (And since I haven't seen the film, it is your poem--and Jae Rose's--that comes to mind when I hear that word.)
ReplyDeleteNice to be back in familiar surroundings but still there seems to be something strange
ReplyDeleteHank
This poem invites the reader right into the odd sensation of returning back to a familiar place, changed.
ReplyDeleteThis is how I feel now that I have been away so long from the city of my birth....and perhaps it is good to go home and reunite with it again Robin....to find the memories of long ago and make new ones....beautiful poem!
ReplyDeleteoh yes, know the feeling. i feel like a stranger when i go to Chaguanas, where i grew up. The placed has transformed so much
ReplyDeleteWould you belive i am unfamiliar with the word " revenant" had to look it up.
have a nice Sunday
much love...
I like the idea of breathing in the atmosphere to claim it back again...there is something to be said for trying to 'reclaim' the city of our births after a time apart that really resonates with me.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourites of yours, Robin..........I love how, when we return to a place, we note the differences, yet seek out the old familiar places - and reclaim it. When my sister and I go back to Kelowna, we make the rounds of all the places we lived, all the familiar haunts.......some of them are now gone, but some remain.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of being freed from the stewardess's care! Inspired use of the words.
ReplyDeleteMy Whirl!
i understand this sort of connection with the home town.... very well written
ReplyDeleteYou speak to some inner core of my being. I returned to my home town almost ten years ago. Everything has changed, yet I find delight in what still exists and some very pleasant surprises in what wasn't here before,
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Poignant and beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteVery relatable. I feel like this is me at some points of my life.
ReplyDeleteWell told, going home is not always easy so many things change
ReplyDeleteTime does change things and one needs to adjust to new surroundings. A good time to re-establish a relationship with your city.
ReplyDeleteA stranger in my city
We must make friends again
Oh, how I can relate! I've recently been revisiting Melbourne to see family and old friends, as I do occasionally. I lived there 40-odd years, but have now lived 20-plus elsewhere, so when I go back I find it very changed and confusing. Some bits such as the inner city I still know , but the roads are altered, with freeways and tollways everywhere. I'd hate to drive there now! When I am driven around, I keep thinking, 'How did I get from there to here?' The connections are all different from what I remember. But as I am not planning to go back there to live, I need only re-acquaint myself a little. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was years before I returned to my "home" town, having a new "home" town now. But this poem is how it was. I went to familiar places - some gone, some changed, some blissfully the same. The town smelled the same and one place, a tiny hotdog stand, was still there. Same smells, same tastes, grandson now behind the glass taking orders. This is a great write.
ReplyDeleteOld Egg, you did an excellent write with these words. I love the closing stanza.
ReplyDeletePamela
An amazing title that sent my mind in all directions - though the last two lines, I thought, really brought the piece full circle. Claiming it back, I suspect, will complete that part of you that can only be returned in the city that is your home.
ReplyDeleteReclaiming what has been lost is a daunting task!
ReplyDelete