From the local airport I took a cab
Into the town I had fled more than
Thirty years ago. The taxi driver was
An old school friend and we spoke
About those days then lapsed into
Silence, a river of years, we had
Nothing in common but a few school
Day memories. Checked into a hotel
And went for a slow walk through
Streets I once ran thro’. Intense my
Loneliness, pale, strange faces under
A forbidding Nordic sky!
What are you doing here? Your family
Is in the cemetery, go put flowers on
Graves, sigh a little than take the next
Plane back to where you belong.
Yes, but my roots are here, I’m trapped
In a web of memories, a longing for a
Mythical past. The eternal dilemma of
An exile.