what is home to the falcon

the nest where it was raised

or the vastness of the sky?

 

what is home the snail

the fern in which it

leaves behind trails

of glimmering mucus

or the comfort

of the house grown out of its back?

 

what is home to the salmon

the ocean it spends its entire life traversing

or the river it was born in

to which it inevitably returns to die?

 

what is home to the gazelle

always on the move for better pastures?

the plains the plains the plains

 

you ask me where I am most at home and I tell you

in airports, the sky so close and

only some baggage claims away

 

the house I grew up in but also

the shell I grew for myself over years

tent of familiarity I can pitch wherever I go

 

the country I spent my life in but

also the country I was born in, the one

I know I will one day return to to die

 

you ask me where I am home

and I tell you the plains

the world is my savannah and it all looks the same

I will settle down where there is water

and move on when there is none

 

where am I at home?

the world, the world, the world.