Full Circle

Full Circle

Everything was still and quiet
'Cept for the squeaking of the old ceiling fan above his head.
He sat at the decrepit wooden table
Staring at the dredges of liquid left in his cracked mug.
Pictures from his past reflected behind his eyes
Like a slideshow on a movie screen--
Flashing his life's adventures
Outside of his isolated childhood home.
He wonders if he made the right choice as a young man
Leaving his family and intended behind
To follow his dreams of books, learning and travel.

Returning home after his dream-quest
He feels as if he's never left
'Cept for folks ignoring him as if he'd passed.
These God-fearing people never accepted his leaving--
Finding it easier to think him dead
Rather than living amongst sinful men.
These same God-fearing people now refused to accept his return--
Ultimately driving him from the only home he had known.

Fleeing from the unforgiving town he had called home--
He vowed to start his life anew.
For many years he was happy
Living away from the extreme criticism he had known at home.
But-through love and loss-
He finds he has come full circle once again
Craving to go home to the close-minded town that had chased him away in his youth.

He was an old man now and was sure
Most of the town folk had passed on.
He made his way back to his childhood house
To live out his remaining days-
Where he sits at the decrepit wooden table
Comtemplating his life in the liquid left in his cracked mug-
His only companion-
A squeaky old ceiling fan above his head.