Coming home
by F. Lee Jennings
My journey, now worn by time and deeds
Weary of harsh and violent lands
Worn by the ways of grasping man
Mostly tired of me
Completely tired of me
Learning though, oh how I’ve learned
Adventures? Not what I imagined
Daydreams have fallen far behind
They’ve now become another kind
Exercising myself to erase them
Simple things I used to mock
raise themselves to meet me
Hearth and home, love and kin
Far from the stain of my past sin
Running toward the discarded
Going home now, back the way I came
Home to the heart glow
Back to the kingdom without fear
A fountain place of cleansing tears
Will he turn me away? I fear.
Can it be? I wonder while walking
Is there yet a place for me?
Familiar hills come into view.
childhood places that I knew
Close to where I started
Years have passed, could they still dream
that I’d be coming home again?
It just the same as I draw near
As when I left that ancient year
Only better and brighter and cleaner
Who rushes now to meet me
then throws himself upon my bosom?
My father weeping, offering grace
His graying head against my face
Our tears mingling as they flow
He leads me into his house
The servants laugh and smile
Just as though I'd never left
And my father had never been bereft
Of his wandering, foolish son
A servant sets a place for me
at a table spread with grace
Friends and loved ones seated there
the servant brings another chair
And sets it next to my father
A prodigal, I came home today
knowing here’s where I belong
What gives my heart this new, this constant song?
My father loved me all along
My father loved me all along