I am Here

I am here -

I am here with the trees

I am here with the wind

I am here with the water.

I am here -

I am here with the people

I am here with my mind

And my body

And my spirit.

I am here -

In a place to learn

In a place to grow

In a place where I can hear a girl

Through our joint wall

Muttering to herself in German

While she sleeps.

I am here -

In a place where in classes you hear

Muttered prayers

Flowing from the mouths of many.

Where comforting films are watched

And watched again.

Where meals are cooked in the dead of the night;

Oh well,

Anything for just a taste of home.

I am here -

Where packages from home are worshiped

Wine sipped from a crystal chalice

a crown of thorns -

the father

the son

the holy spirit -

And a letter.

It is from home,

My mothers familiar scrawl paints it’s pages;

Pages torn from my fathers notebook

The one he said he would never use

I was always jealous of how beautiful her handwriting was.

I am here -

2,787 miles from home

Picturing my brother

Baking bread

I wonder if he will ever find the flour

Without me there to show him.

And now, I wonder

if my father still watches reruns of his favorite movies on the couch?

Does he watch them alone?

Does my mother still borrow my books?

Do my friends ever think about me?

I am here -

And everything is new.

But,

Everything I got from them,

The traditions

The laughs

The love

The stories

The crumbs

Are mine to keep.

I am here,

And I am okay.