Six years ago to this very date
To work in Saudi Arabia became my fate.
I left my California town for the Middle East
Excited and disturbed I was, to say the least.
Just how would it be for me in such a distant land
Of camels, minarets and desert sand?
Would I feel lonely and forsaken there?
Would homesickness drive me to despair?
And when I landed at the air-port
And later to my place of work I would report,
I took a note of my surround-ings
And noticed all the same familiar things:
The desert looked just like the California desert looked
Upon whose beauty I was always hooked,
Around me, lush oleanders bloomed.
Why then I thought to homesickness I was doomed?
And there were lizards running all around
Just like back home in my California town.
And all the insects, birds and plants and all
Would help me Californian desert nature to recall...
And then, at night, I looked up at the sky
And saw the same old constellations looming high
Above my head just like back where I came from.
Hey, then I thought, this *is* just like back home...
Origa, Lepus, Aries and Ursa Minor
And Ursa Major, Pegasus and then Orion
And then I thought that I was just a whiner
And that I shouldn't leave my home crying
When to some distant lands my life calls me
Because while here on Earth I am, homesick I shall not be...
We like to think of our homes as countries only
And think that outside of them we would be lonely,
But on that night one great dicovery I made:
"The whole Earth is our home!" and now I am not afraid
To live wherever life requires me to live-
As long as it's on Earth, I shall not grieve...
