WHERE IS HOME?

WHERE IS HOME?
Poem and Photo by Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith

Perhaps the parental address:
a place from where you
spring
or flee
or where you can return
being sure of refuge.

Maybe a place you build for your children
where you define yourself
in contrast to
or repeating
what you learned in youth.

Or possibly an acreage
where ancestral roots push deep
where you cultivate
strength through guardianship.

I want my home to be
my Self:
defined neither in contrast to
nor repetition of
anyone
any place
any time.
So wherever I live
I have within me
my place of refuge
my source of strength.

[hr]

Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith is a professional writer from Richmond, who has been exploring the sites of the village and providing Richmond Hub readers with her photographs and the poems that these sites inspire her to write.

This photo of the Jock River was taken from the Twin Elm Bridge. It looks upriver towards the original Richmond settlement and inspired some thoughts about home.

You can download and print a pdf copy of the poem here.

You can contact Lee Ann here: www.leeanneckhardtsmith.com