Epilog ~

Why is it that thoughts about a hometown keep creeping back into our memory? Many people want to get away from the place as soon as possible. Especially if their town is small and offers only limited possibilities and resources. Many find their surroundings wearisome while others leave in hope of finding a more pleasant climate elsewhere.

There are, however, those who remain in their birthplace for a lifetime, happy. They learn to accept what their town has to offer, find that their talents and services are needed and appreciated, find fulfillment there.

Between these two extremes are those who have settled in some distant place,
prospered and found satisfaction, and yet they feel a yearning for home. Pulled in two directions they sense within themselves a deep rootedness and a strong bond with their place of birth.

Perhaps that is the dilemma of the author of these poems. He spent his boyhood at home but left as a young teenager and only returned from time to time as a visitor. What is more, he has spent the greater part of his life, some 30 years, in a foreign country.