Strange and Beautiful

Strange and Beautiful

Have you ever heard

of that famous story

“Stranger in a Strange Land”

about a visitor upon Earth

from another world?

I used to like that book

because for the longest time.

I too felt like

a stranger upon this world.

I wandered and wondered

at the odd ways of humanity

for years on end.

After a time, I found a mate in life

and together we went through our days

feeling mutually strange together.

We used to like to say that

we were a culture of two.

Because I had a hand to hold

and a heart to touch

I didn't feel so alone any more.

As the years passed I began to notice

bits and pieces

of myself in many of the people

I happened across and bits and pieces

of other in myself.

As the time went by and I discovered

more of myself

I discovered the world as well.

Conversely, as I discovered the world

I was able to journey farther within myself.

After a long time, I realized,

we all are very similar

in the things we hope and desire most

and there are only a dozen or so

different ways we each use strive

to satisfy our hopes and desires.

But you know, after you've grown

skilled at living

and adept both paring

and meeting your desires,

at the base of all your journeys

you come back

to the same questions

and the same mysteries.

You find that success isn't about

the gathering of things,

whether they're items or knowledge.

Success is the difference between

being able to say,

“This place is strange,”

and being able to say

This place is strange and beautiful.”

Dewey Dirks