Poem: A Place Called Home

By Janet Tumusifu The Black Lens

Home …

It’s a place I remember being: home

A place I still call home despite being far away

Being far away from home

Feels like home is a place I only recall in my dreams

I remember being home

Where every day felt real and the same

But it was never boring

I remember home being fun

Despite having to do almost the same things everyday

Home felt normal

Despite changes it still felt like home

Home was my normal

It left safe

When I walked into my home

It would hug me with warmness and peace

It was filled with love

With peace

And joy

Home wasn’t perfect

We cried

We got sick

We failed

But we were home

Where everywhere we went was like open space

Just for us

At Home, we fought

But we never failed to stay friends

Home felt different

Everyday felt different

But the different felt normal

Home was our normal

Far from home

It’s like learning how to walk again

It’s like having eyes

But you can’t see clearly

Being far from home

Feels like missing part of your heart

Part of Yourself

You change

Being far from home changes you

It’s like you’re not fully yourself

Like you’re the same person but different

You wonder if you were to go home if you would…

Still be like you used to be

Do you feel guilty about changing?

The guilty that’s just there

It’s there you can feel

It makes you question yourself

Don’t you think you changed so much?

Why did you change?

Could you have stayed the same?

You feel guilty

“I had no choice”

I am not home anymore”

You explain yourself to guilt

Change is not bad

It was never a bad thing

But this change is huge…

It really is different

From home.

It’s the change that comes unexpectedly

It comes when unwelcome

It comes when one is not ready for it

But it swears it’s not a bad change

It whispers every night. “Change is not bad”

“It’s not. It’s for the better”

This is not a change for the better

A change where I am not expected to know anything

A change where I am being judged for being different

A change where if I do something so simple

It’s something they didn’t think I can do

The change made my voice shut

It got me quite

Really quiet

It is different from home

It isn’t like the home I know

The home I miss