And so, the vacation comes to an end.

I fly home today

feeling renewed and yet the same.

I remember an old aloneness

and anticipate the fabricated

order of things.

No less here than at home,

I know.

Yet here I am foreign

and expect a measure of alienation.

And there’s no time for longing

when distraction

is the daily itinerary.

Here the rapacious child

in me

reemerged

elated, astonished

at times,

waking greedily at first light

to feel consumed by its purple hues

shrouding a tree-lined street,

then streetlamps extinguishing

as golden warmth spread

between branches —

that joy of watching Nature

score victory over Machine.

And so, I go home

hoping not to quickly forget

how a simple moment

can be a gift of pleasure

as curtains close

on this latest adventure.