redefining home

I love this street one that I've called home for twenty three years I've watched the mango and neem trees grow and welcome monkeys, bats and cicadas

I wake up to the call of a purple sunbird

I listen to the song of a grey-bellied cuckoo

in the afternoon, a hornbill's screech surprises us all

while a black kite soars in the sky

there's a tailorbird in the coconut tree

invisible, but it makes itself known today is a good day for

a duet with a chirping squirrel

in the evening, when the wind blows

stray gulmohar flowers and

white jasmine cover the ground

as do the seeds of the copperpod tree

oh, how I love that street

and how well I know it

and its inhabitants, including

hesitant shrews and nocturnal frogs

but far away, in another country

I am getting to know a new street I am learning its secrets and surprises

and the life it holds

here, I wake up to the call of the blackbird

and the twittering of robins

I watch magpies hop on the ground

and sparrowhawks circle above

the sweet smell of jasmine

is now replaced with the strong scent of hyacinths

the tabebuia and jacaranda trees

are recoloured in magnolia and cherry blossom

everything that I defined as home

the soundscapes, the enchantment, the familiarity

have now taken on a new meaning

and my boundaries have expanded

I find myself falling in love

unexpectedly and a little hesitantly looking for signs that will one day

spell a new nostalgia

home is a funny thing

it can be here

but it can also be

five thousand miles away