A Poem – Dulce Domum (Or Anywhere Else)

A poem I wrote recently while travelling abroad. Welcome to 2015!

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I saw a man aboard a train

Wrapped in a ragged cloak.

Above his blizzard beard a gaze

Nostalgia doth evoke.

His hazel eyes flood deeply

With the sights of many lands.

And I thought he must have conquered

Many mountains with his hands.

 

I saw the steppes of Russia,

Saw the flowers of Japan.

I saw the green and verdant lights

Of Iceland in this man.

 

He’d seen the Spanish summer

And he’d seen the Great White North.

Van Diemen’s rugged shores could not

Restrain his marching forth.

 

Yet in his eyes a brooding

That followed as he’d roam;

A crying inwardly, “Where does

The wayfarer call his home?”

 

For when he’d anchored newly

For a time in one firm spot,

That parasitic poison struck!

Contentedness would rot!

 

And as I pondered of content,

our eyes at last were met.

And I could hardly tell if he

Felt peace or deep regret.

 

My youth did seem at once to fade.

In place – melancholy.

As horror-struck I realised

That the man I saw was me.

– 2015