The Great Return 
   Well not so great
   Not gone for so long
   Nor far at that rate

But A Return 
   None the less
   Back to smiles
   With tenderness

And so many hugs!
   Such sweet contact
   With such joy in reunion
   Hard not to react

React with a smile and hello
   And a pat on the back
   Much less hard to return
   When welcomed like that

Thanks goodness that life
   Is filled with so many
   Outstanding people
   Who gives hugs by the plenty

Choices I've made
   Have led me to hear
   That strong inner voice
   That led me to here

Since making the shift
   To follow my heart
   I realize that
   I've strength to impart

Returning with ease
And a big squeeze
Yes please

Ancient City
Racked by strife
There may not be a wrong nor right

Ancestral Land
So many years
For so long now plagued by fears

Fears of fighting
Fears of death
Fear of what may happen next

What will happen?
Nay what can?
Hope we learn from early men

Who saw their world
Crumble down
It was their cities that were burned to ground

An arrogant pursuit of a freedom ill imagined and already had
The current state not so bad

Sure not perfect
But hell, what is?
To risk it all's a losing bid

Jerusalem
3 religions
All vying for a cut
When they already have so much!

Peaceful but contentious relations are there
Why does all the outside world care?

City of strife
City of spirit
In the quiet moments you can almost hear it.

Ghosts in the streets
Where the dead outnumber the living

Their souls awaiting rapture
They might be waiting a long time
There is no scale for the divine

What a city
Ancient Stone
The tales on which we all have grown

Glad to see you
Glad to visit
Hope time steadies your composite

Thankful for my time there
I will come again
Without fear