Home

All of my life,
I have searched for a home.
Along the beaches of Rio de Janeiro,
I lay stretched out upon my red and blue plaid blanket
Beneath the tropical noon sun
And as I watched the magnificent high waves
Ride onto the shore,
I built castles in the sand.
Here at night,
I watched the mystery of the Macumba
From the windows of
Our white-painted house with the sky- blue shutters.

From the sixth floor of our luxury apartment
In the heart of Kinshasa
I could see every day the native women
Dressed in colorful wax-printed shawls
Carrying their children upon their backs,
As I watched the tropical plants and palm trees
Growing tall in the park across the street.

My thoughts return to the days that
I played in the Japanese garden
That my father built
In the front yard of
Our red brick mansion set high on a hill
Across the street from the Naval Observatory
Of our nation’s capital,
Although this is where I lived for fifteen years of my life,
I could not call this my home.

All of my life,
I have searched for a home
And never found one
Until that magical day
I created a home of my own-
In the world of
My dreams.

When I finally found this place
It was taken away from me
When I awakened one day
Into a world of madness,
Where what I had left of my life
Was rudely snatched away,

Fond memories of
Waves splashing upon the beaches of Rio,
And those of the rainforests of Zaire
Are the only homes that I know of,
Because they are the only escape
From this crazy world
That has so brutally tried to overtake my life.

And as I overlook this city
As I stand on my balcony
My mind travels backwards
To my childhood days,
Where suddenly I am back on that beach in Rio
Building castles in the sand,
And as waves washed these sandcastles into the sea,
All that remained were castles that have been built in the air,
For it is in them that fantasies are made,
And it is within these castles in the air
That I have found the home of my dreams….


schizoclaud

(Claudia Krizay)