Nostos

Before and after

The wind was playing with his long hair
and the salty sea-drops were the reminder
that his lips had wounds made of hardship
in that journey that made him wider.

The ship was approaching slowly
the coast of his beloved homeland;
he was about to be caressed
by his wife’s patient, smooth hands.

The external battle had ended,
but the parallel act of the internal one
was weighing more in his observing mind
than the victories of his sword’s elan.

Nostos wasn’t his only concern on the battlefield;
the returning itself isn’t the major factor.
Who and what he would be after that
was the thought of his thoughts’ conductor.

No one ever remains the same
after being a passenger in one of life’s routes.
Ending up in the beginning transformed
is what makes them really know their roots.

Many crying people welcomed him,
as the ship’s anchor confirmed the return.
But only a few immediately “captured”
that his previous version had come to an end.

It is as this expanded self that he narrated
the adventure to his grandchildren,
seeing also through the eyes of his former I,
to be compassionate for their immature selves.

Sometimes he tried to preach, but he stopped.
Experience can never be transferred.
It’s built by feeling it on your skin,
and for this, you have to travel.

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