The Return

He stood looking out the window;
The view of the haze-covered mountains
Flooded his mind with memories long forgot.
Home at last!

It'd been decades since he'd been on the old ranch,
Having left the wilderness loneliness
For the crowds and bright lights of city after city.
Always looking for adventure, love, and true life.
Now after years of searching for himself,
The loneliness of the cities finally drove him home.

The sound of the wind banging the front door
Against the remnants of the door frame
Brought him out of his reverie.
There wasn't much left of the old house these days.
Mom and Dad had long passed on and with their
Passing, no one had cared for the old home place.

"Funny how you never appreciate what you have,
Until it's gone forever," he mused.
"Here was the one place I really felt loved,
Even if I wasn't understood.
I wonder if I ever expressed that to the folks before they left."

Looking out again through the kitchen window,
He noticed that the haze had lifted.
Clearly now rose the majestic mountains
Above the desert floor.
Overwhelmed by the fresh beauty of the scene,
New hope lifted his spirits.
"Maybe the lifting of the fog is an omen, a signal.
Maybe the path for me will now become clearer.
Maybe there's still some beauty for me to see, to be."

And so he closed the door on the past
Even as he closed the old front door and walked back to his car.
Back to his life in the city, with the crowds and bright lights.
But now he had a sense there was something to live for.