A Walk In the Neighbourhood At Night – A Poem

(This is a poem I wrote one night while visiting, after a long interval of more than two decades, the small German town where I was born. I originally wrote it on 2nd December, 2021)

Photo credit: Author (myself)

The sleepy little town felt so foreign, yet so close ,

The town where almost everyone seems to knows each other but no one knew me,

I walked, my shoes echoing through the night on the concrete of the pavement,

With the clouds above me stopping the stars being present.

I walked.

I wondered how life brings you in circles,

The town I was born in, the town where my mother’s grave lies,

The town my parents were married at, the town I went to kindergarten at,

Now seems so distant, yet so close.

I walked.

I looked at the church, its old walls gleaming.

I looked at the houses falling asleep.

I listened to my heartbeats, heard my phone beep.

Silence. Distant bark. A bicycle somewhere.

I walked in circles. The way life makes us circle,

26 years apart and it feels so foreign, yet so close.

The sleepy little town.