"I Have a Dream..."

How often we find
When painting pictures in our mind
The images idealize
Giving the reality a surprise
By creating a paradise
With so much extra spice
That it, itself can't
(And quite often daren't)
Compare. However, my dream
Does (for once) seem
To be approaching a truth
That despite being from youth
The vision is clear
Comaprable to life, that, without fear
I can surely say:-
My dream is the U.S. of A!!

19th February 1992 - Edna, Texas, USA.

This poem was written on my first visit back to the States after working at Summer camp in 1989. I actually went to visit Jenn and her mother, with whom, I had kept in touch with after leaving in 1989. It was still a good three years before we started dating. What I did get from this visit was that I did love this country and it wasn't a one off feeling. There was a certain something that caught my imagination back when I first landed at JFK in 1989 to this visit to Texas, to now that I still have. At this point I did could not ever imagine that I'd end up living over here never mind falling in love with Jenn and marrying. It's a funny old world!!

-Richard