Mother, why I wander
Mother, I know you wonder
why I walk this world alone
from Asia to Africa
through their streets I roam
Why I took up the burden
why I filled that parting glass
to leave a land I love so much
the many mercies of Belfast
It could all have been so different
Nearly sixteen years ago this year
Belfast Tech or Li Po Chun, Hong Kong
Both options you faced with fear
Thank you for taking the risk
to enter me into the big world game
to send me on the slow boat to China
and risk a homecoming cloaked in shame
But what I had before I went
in formation, love and care
gave me the strength I needed
to wander anywhere
Rambling out on Fridays
to seek the world at its best
finding it all and moving on
change being better than rest
You know I love the session
an addiction to the new
the delight of the night passing
rolled up in the May morning dew
But calling home most Sundays
to help the emptiness pass
the rest of the weekend
resembling a half-empty glass
The love you have given and give me
Allows me to make my home
in the anonymities of overseas
and to face them on my own.
Facing the world each monday
with vain attempts to change the world
benevolence, guilt or obligation
the flags I fly unfurled
But I do not choose this life
and I don’t believe that it chose me
I think it not forever
like as said, may it be
To be alone is to be open
to all the beauty of this life
indecision and flexibility
and the temptation it is rife
I believe it can happen one day
though maybe not this year or the next
Nurturing hope against hope
No more need to vex
I will always come to visit
from wherever I call home to home
and sometime in the future
I intend not to arrive on my own.
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