Clouds of faces, but they might well be empty skies

The words are the same, but I don’t know the voice

It’s not warm, like the smile of an old friend

 

They smile, they welcome, but they don’t see or know me

They help, they care, but they have their own lives to live

Trickling on after this leaf has come and gone

 

It’s a charming place, this stranger’s land

Old turf, old people, old grudges; narrow streets and life-long friends

A mug at the pub at a long day’s end

 

In the light I’m here, wandering through this stranger’s land,

Wondering where I left my red shoes

Playing the role I’m given in the complex film called life

 

But at night I drift, click my heels and I’m home again

Like a long-lost friend, like I’ve never been gone

And it’s laughter and familiar voices, warm like the hugs they give without thinking

 

It’s nights lit by blue screens, long talks and shared hearts

Pizza and mint tea in a pink comfy chair

Silences filled with words

 

It’s walking in doors and knowing you’ve come home,

It’s singing with the band and knowing every name, every story

Knowing your home is where your family lives

 

It’s meeting a friend and never getting lost,

Driving on roads I know like the lines on my hands

Walking blindfolded and not caring

 

Because you know, no matter where you go

 

There are other places, but they aren’t like home

There are other faces, but they don’t look like my own

There is other music, but it’s not down-home

There are other friends, but they’re planted, not grown

 

And when I wake up, go back to this stranger’s land

I have no birds in the bush, but one in each hand

 

My head knows home is far away

Past miles and oceans and way past teatime

But I know deep inside, if I really try

 

Home is really just a heart-click away