The familiar landscape
catches my breath
and reels me in
toward home.

When the palms shadow
the sky along my road
I know
I’m almost there.

It is just how I left it.
Yet, somehow
it seems smaller.
I sense the changes.

Rip Van Winkle’s shadow
plays tricks on my memory,
and I wonder,
“What was I expecting?”

That the world would
stand still just because
I was gone? or that
I would be the same,
simply because I feel
that way?

I left a child.
In Neverland,
I found my wings.
I want to fly away.

I never could have guessed
it would take so long to be grown.
But, for now at least,
I’m home.

© 2013 DarEll S. Hoskisson