The Nowhere Man
There was a time I lived in an old
world over there,
Told people "I am from here"
and knew no elsewhere
Then adventure called and I left my
town and folks
I flew over mountains, oceans and forests of oaks
I traveled to a foreign land, saw
cities of abundance
I met new people and soaked in their
exuberance
I cast off my allegiance to the old
world as time flew
Embraced the new world along with the
old, and now ...
When I am there, I want to leave and
come back here
And when here, I want to be there in
days very near!
Here I ride fast routes thru hills and
scenic desert
There I trod dusty paths into short
bushes and dirt
There, exposed to the raw elements, I
feel vulnerable
Here, safe in a cozy sterile cocoon, it
is rather dull
The abundance of humanity here can be
suffocating
The loneliness of there
feels heavy and daunting
There, I feel like a bird, free to
learn and explore,
Here, I push and pull in the web of
relations galore
There, I am on the move, eager and
ready to tear
Here I am like a turtle - in no hurry
to go anywhere
I miss the riot of sounds, colors,
smells, when there
Out here, I long for the peace and
clean odorless air
There, no one bothers with me, I'm
servant and the boss
Here, hemmed in from all sides, privacy
goes for a toss
Here I enjoy the unruliness and chaos
of a wise culture
There I thrive in a new world of
precision and structure
Do I belong here? there? Am I now a
no-where man?
No! I have just been blessed to be a
now-here man!
Abhay B. Joshi
Poet’s note: This poem describes the
tug of war felt by an immigrant from an old culture.