Hometown Memories Poem by RoseAnn V. Shawiak

Hometown memories of childhood actually have two locations
in my mind, the first being in New Jersey when born and
living there until I was eleven years old.

Relatives, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, all so
very close and loving, roots of my life like a fabric
woven from all their love, then being torn from all I'd
ever known.

Still being eleven years old, yet traveling to Arizona
where we knew no one at all, an empty desert, void of
love and caring that I had grown up with and loved having.

Strangers everywhere I went, timid, shy, curious sad,
wanting to explore every corner of the desert for I found
it's arid and hot atmosphere accommodating my lonely soul
from the inside out.

Walking everyday in it's peace to get away from strangers
and the unfamiliar city of Phoenix, preferring to be out-
doors with nature, because nature I knew was safe.

It gave me the strength to get through each day with it's
quiet faith, giving me hope that I'd be able to get through
this excruciating experience in life somehow.

Gaining my freedom through it's miracle of serenity, as it
fully enveloped me in it's presence, becoming once again
one with nature and myself.