Shrieks, yells and bellows of joy. Oh boy! A ten-year-old dashes down the stairs, in helter-skelter haste, taking two steps at a time.
Two overexcited ones scream from the second-story window! Is he really back? Or, is it a dream?
A man, probably the father, peeps from the window. Pipe in hand, eyes popping out of their sockets. A brown and white dog bounds towards him, wondering where he was all this time.
What a band of overjoyed people! The apron-clad mother, stretches her arms to welcome her warrior son, and smother him with her pudgy arms, clasp him to her ample bosom.
A frail-looking girl in green - probably his girlfriend, or fiancée watches shyly, merging with the wall. Emotions surging in an absurdly palpitating heart. Even the clothes hanging from the clothesline, flutter in joyous anticipation.
Is it truly happening or is it just a tall tale?
"Oh, my son is back! Oh, my brother is back! Oh, my friend is back!"
Folks stand excitedly on their toes, choking on a surcease of joy. There are resounding echoes.
‘He is home He is home.’
Why war? Why not peace?
This poem is inspired by a painting by Norman Rockwell “The Homecoming”.
Recipient of numerous international awards, internationally acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu, and the biography of Martin Luther King Jr. [Vitasta] Santosh Bakaya, PhD, poet, essayist, novelist, biographer, Tedx speaker, has written twenty-eight very well-received books across different genres. Morning Meanderings is her popular column in learning andcreativity.com. Her Tedx talk on the Myth of Writer’s Block is very popular in creative writing circles.
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