Soul. Sole. Seoul.

(that’s 서울)

This is it: I’m flying home
Experiment to end
San Francisco via Seoul
To be that self again

Alone I struggle off the plane
And bus to my hotel
Carry my whole life uphill
And hope that I sleep well

시장에 I walk next morn
For gifts for those back home
The pancake in my hand still warm
While I through city roam

The subway beats a steady pulse
Heading outwards—gone
My pedals trace a circle full
Along the river Han

These homeless months, these not quite six
They haven’t changed my life
I’ve seen my share of sights so fair
And I’ve seen fateful plight

I’ve done my share of traveling
But I’ll walk a little more
Though I’m no prince, I’ll leave my prints
On yet another shore

The last five months, a second home
But not as Frost would say
“And miles to go before I sleep”
My miles before I wake

But after towering island spires
Ice cream and dusty roads
To see these rolling urban hills…
I’m ready to go home

On the way home from my stay in Cambodia, I spent two days in Hong Kong and two days in Seoul visiting friends. Today’s poem is a sketch of my feelings and experience during that short time in South Korea.

Part of Poem-a-Day 2013. Title donated by Tony P.