In an unexpected place, I found you
In pop colour billboards and
Odd names for barbershops
At the end of dirt roads
In the underground restaurants at rundown streets

It was not much
Not enough to say “I am from here”
Not enough to say “I am local”
But enough to build a bridge to you

I wasn’t alive in your Golden Age
That period of eternal satisfaction
that the elders spoke of
Instead I was born in its shadow;
Its elusive mist.
I took the furthest detour
And I reached your familiar soil

I found you at the altar of discomfort and joy
Full of the hands of hidden visionaries
I grew comfortable in your nooks and crannies.

And at the end of the day
It was your nighttime sounds that drew me in
A more luminous moon shone in your presence
I didn’t see your gold but I tasted your breeze every summer
And that was enough for me to say “forever”

I sit at the passenger seat of your love
Absorbing what I can, you drive me
through the street names I can’t pronounce
Your nostalgic air tickling my hair
The way my mother put me to sleep as a child

I found you at the altar of discomfort and joy
And there you remained;
Half-shy and half-proud