The last night before Departure Day


She is standing at the window,
staring out in the dark for one last time.
She takes in the cold air, as if it is a delicious treat.
She listens to the sounds of the night -
the rushing of cars far away, the sounds of the ones nearby,
the whisper of the wind, caught in the leaves of the trees
and from time to time the crie of an animal or a human voice.

She is standing at the window,
staring out in the dark for one last time.
She reflects what has happened -
thinks of all the new friends she made,
all the new things she tried,
all the difficulties she overcame.
And she realizes how much she changed.

She is standing at the window,
staring out in the dark for one last time.
She looks at the stars, bright and clear against the deep blue sky -
they are the same as when she came,
they will be the same after she left,
they won't change, they will always be there
- somebody to rely on.

She is standing at the window,
staring out in the dark for one last time.
Tomorrow she will be gone -
gone back to where she came from.
She had one year, and now it's gone
and even if she comes back to visit,
it will never be the same again.

She is standing at the window,
staring out in the dark for one last time.
Tomorrow she will stand at a different window,
staring out into a different dark -
so far from here.

She will be looking at the same old stars,
shining from the same blue sky.
Nothing seems to have changed.
But she knows, nothing is the same anymore
and will never be again.
She has changed.





Dreams


Somewhere, in a land far away, was a young boy once. He lived on the same little island as long as he could remember. He liked it there, it was his home and he had everything he wanted and loved. He liked going through the woods, admiring the flowers and trees and playing with the rabbits and deer. He had a little house near the beach, so he could sail out with his little boat to catch fresh fish. He lived a happy life.
But somehow, there was something he missed. He couldn't name it, didn't know what it was. He just felt a longing feeling, longing for something far away on the other side of the ocean. He went down to the beach during the nights, when the feeling kept him awake. Listening to the waves, he was sitting on a stone, shivering in a light breeze, staring out at the vast sea, dreaming about places far away. Places, he would never be able to go to and visit, would never be able to meet the people, learn about the different, so strange seeming cultures. In his dreams he was traveling on a ship, he was the captain. But they weren't normal sailors. Some might describe them as pirates, since that was what they looked like with their long curly hair bound back in a ponytail and their elegant but somehow strange looking coats. But they weren't pirates either. He called them "The Crew of Freedom". They would sail from country to country, discovering so many wonderful things. They always had food and water on board. They didn't have any money or gold; they didn't need any. Whenever they went somewhere on land, they were greeted friendly, invited for food and drink and brought to the most wonderful places the location had to offer. Sometimes it was a cave, sometimes a sea, a lake or a waterfall, sometimes it was a special tree, a forest or a plant, sometimes it was a special food, sometimes a house or a statue and sometimes it was a special festival. Whatever it was, it was always wonderful, special and exotic.

He loved to discover these places. He loved to meet all the different people. He took everything in, enjoyed every single breath as if it was a valuable gift. The more he dreamed, the bigger his longing feeling grew. But somewhere, deep inside him, he knew that they were only dreams, that he would never be able to visit the placs other than in his dreams. But still, he kept dreaming and eventually it took over his life.