In a Foreign Land

As I walk this waterfront,
nothing is as it was
when I first came here,
many years ago.

It has become a playground for the rich,
with a few amenities thrown in,
as a gesture, for the rest of us.

I am just a visitor here,
a tourist from the past,
though this is still my own town,
and yet so different
from my memories.

And thus I am reminded
that everything is always changing
and always will change,
whether I want it to or not.

The more I lean into that,
as I stand here, a stranger in a foreign land,
the more vulnerable I begin to feel,
and the more alive.