some sort of homecoming

Sitting in the metal bleachers at the high school,
Homecoming night football game,
Watching the boy march and cheering the home team.
Announcer welcomed all the grads,
Maybe just a handful there-
But I grew up somewheres else.
What would my homecoming be like,
A hundred miles to the east,
Nineteen years after the fact.
Would I see familiar faces amongst the crowd,
Or has everyone moved on and out
To bigger and better things?
Would my return be triumphant,
Or would I be ashamed of who I am,
Whatever it is I think I have become?
Why do I even care for their opinions?
What would it matter either way?
People and places from long ago,
Only hold sway because I allow it,
I give them power over what I think.
In the end I don’t think it matters,
crowd at my son’s school is the same,
no different from the one at mine.
The kids are pretty much the same,
No matter where you are on this continent.
The demographics might not support it,
But our world continues to get smaller,
Kids are pretty much the same from wherever.
Thanks to cable and the internet,
Homogenization crossing barriers all over,
Good and bad just like everything else.
Hip-hop nation in the suburbs of Detroit,
Just like Toronto or New York City,
Sameness and mass conformity everywhere.
But the truth is that we are all the same,
We have our different languages and traditions,
Different religions and foods.
Underneath it all we are just the same,
We all move along at a similar pace,
Going along with our institutions.
Not good or bad—maybe a little of both,
No judgment just stating the facts,
Showing why I do not need to go back.
Bible stories and works by Shakespeare,
Greek tragedies and comedies,
Written by people long since dead,
Still ring true somehow.
Somehow we have not changed that much,
The poets and sages of yesteryear understood,
Knew that human nature is the same everywhere.
I am not the prodigal son,
My return would not be ignominious or victorious,
There is nothing to be gained in that journey.
My home is right here right now,
Wherever that may be--I am here,
No homecoming is needed when I never left.