What incredible views from down here,
from that place we all travelled before
but this time the destination is new.
A touch, a glance, an impression so powerful it floats,
like the gravity of a new planet undiscovered, 
brilliantly lit and surrounded by an atmosphere 
you no longer have to adjust to.
Family, that strange and other worldly space
nothing else can replace, to which nothing else compares.
All the years that passed, all the oblivion and misconceptions,
all the baggage you cannot check, has somehow disappeared.

New word, old meaning
on this Day of Independence
from love, humility, trust.
Our humanity in jeopardy. Thanks, Frank (Rich),
for pointing out how far we've come
but how far we have to go.
Our president a moving target,
our streets a home without walls,
our nation only one in a global community for all
struggling against the isms that imprison our thinking,
one nation after all.