The train pulls into Suma Station, Kobe, Japan.
This pocket of existence,
Despite life’s sundry complexities,
Simplifies my spirit.

The sunlight
Reminds me who I am.
It fills the empty space with
The warmth of my past —
Where I’ve been:
Docks of Naples;
Honeyed Middle Eastern
Passageways;
California. My feet sink
Into the damp sand, and
I’m home.

I’m in a perpetual state of awe.
My connections, friendships, foundation;
My daily pursuits and adventures;
The magic of the trivial.
It’s a wondrous state in which to dwell.
I don’t really know
How it’s happened — I just haven’t stopped
Asking, what do you love?
Passed down through generations
I don’t need much to be happy. I need rather little
To feel like me, because it’s not just me
It’s history, family, written words and heartfelt stories
Running through my veins.

Sun kissed water
Pale as the sky,
Green mountains &
Children’s laughter.

A swim,
My bare feet upon
Warm concrete — echoes of feeling,
The essence of healing,
Gleaming in the summer sun.

A group of boys jump from the dock, and
One approaches me, smiling like an old friend.
He sits as I lay their baking on the stone.

He’s from Bangladesh, a student in Japan.
We chat and he leaves, and
I imagine how many cool people there are out there,
In India; in the pockets of the world my heart
Has yet to know.
Islands. Cities. Mountains. Deserts.
Kids like him and me — anywhere — we’re
All just trying to find our way.

We’re all the same in
Beautiful ways. We’d later sit on the train,
Heading back to Osaka. Where should I visit in India?
I asked. A question with innumerable answers.
Ceylon, he’d say.

Kids throw fishing lines with their dads
And drive away on a moped.
The smell of gasoline and the sun on my
Skin and the salt in my hair and the sounds of splashing and
Laughter; the glimmering water reflecting the sun,
Setting beyond the craggy hills;
Life can be simple.
I guess before, I needed answers.

The sunlight reminds me who I am;
I don’t need more to be happy.