Timbuktu Will Have to Do

Timbuktu Will Have to Do

"Where are you from?" you glibly ask

Where am I from? I slightly frown....

that depends....

on how much you want to know

how long your attention span

on whether you care

or just need something to say...

It depends

also

on how I feel today

-sure of myself or hesitant

-competent or lonely

-cynical or wanting to belong

Should I say-

your eyes give me no clue-

the last place I lived?

or where I lived the longest?

or where my parents live now?

or where I was born?

Should I tell you all the places I've lived?

in order? and how long? and why?

Or shall I pick a name out of the blue

Timbuktu

and see how you respond?

I am from God's earth-just now

a sojourner and wanderer

and you cannot put what I know

or who I am

into a box

by thinking you know "where I am from."

The question poses an enormous problem for me

Yet it is understandable that you ask

It is not wrong of you to ask....

People ask it every day....

But you stand there awaiting my answer

Hesitancy forming in your eyes

And I should not be uncivil

After all, you asked...

I think, today, I will say

"Timbuktu"

and see what you do.