Settling In

Nothing surprises, nothing wows

or so it seems, until –

music, oh, sweet music can do it.

Politics and train wrecks -war!

Knowing the nature of the human animal –

i can’t get excited about these things.

I used to sing in praise of unions.

People coming together.

I still am wow ‘ed by love.

Not surprised that most can’t seem to

understand me.

I sit now far from everything that was to me, me.

My home, memories bound by trees, rivers, sounds –

streets. Ancestrally i feel,

I have been in this Rhine valley before.

I can’t see much difference between my home, and here –

except for a language barrier.

The old is being swept away.

For something new, noticeable, so-called better, and different.

Just like home. Surprised not at all that the youth wish to leave.

They look like store advertisements for clothing.

Clutching their phone, far away twittering –

reeling mindless yet so real in life.

I hear a blackbird singing outside my window and wonder:

Does it knows where it is and has it

cared for its nation and place.

I am wow ‘ed by wide open spaces.

Massive rivers, small powerful slow changes.

I am surprised every day when I look at the news

that we have not blown ourselves up.

I know one thing … circles.

We are going in them, for good or bad –

who really knows anything.

Photo by Karen Stewart