Coming Back Home One Day From A Foreign Land Poem by RIC BASTASA

and one day you come back
home and all of them rejoice
for a soul that was lost and
now found, a feast is held
and some streamers hang
on rope twines and flowers
adorn some pillars and walls

smiles are exchanged turning
to heavy laughter and a series
of embraces from old arms
to the newer ones, you shed
some tears of joy and you
look at every nook and road
and even the rooms and
stairs over the farm and the
old village horizon, trees and
shrubs and garden grass,

you weigh which changed
most: is it the place or the
self? is it you or them?
less the drama, and the
excitement, i look at you
and tell you: things of the
heart remain exactly what
they are. Love is contained.