Homesick

Homesick

Desiree T. Young

Today, I am homesick

I miss the faces I’ve known and loved since teenagedom

The smiles the laughs

The privacy and openness of going through life

The struggles, the joys

The victories and the tears

People I loved who kept me close but at a distance

Please I treasured but ultimately did the same

People who knew my likes and my interests

And shared them as much as they were able

These people who sharpened me

Poured into me and loved me

Who became a family

More than I knew

I left them in spring

Hard as it was to do

Much as I wrestled and toiled and struggled

I left as a senior going away to school

Peaceful and excited, but anxious all the same

New place, new adventure

I’d read all the brochures

New faces awaited me

New classes and more

Three short months

That’s how long it took

And though I think of going home

More often than I’d thought

This new university has sure taught me a lot

I’m challenged and stretched

It’s like he knew I was coming

I’m welcomed and loved

It’s like they knew I’d been searching

This university with added extracurriculars

Has brought me something I didn’t know was missing

Parts of myself that were buried and stifled

Now came to new life

Sprouting and wild

How can you miss a part of you

You didn’t realize was there

And the people that brought it out

You miss them when they aren’t there

New words, new songs

New keys and melodies

Same laughs, more fun

More lighthearted and warm

You challenge me, love me,

Sharpen me, awaken me

You dance with me, play with me,

And push me past what I can see

And I am homesick for the ones I love

Here, there, and everywhere