June 2023

An early summer treat. Alexander says of this poem, ‘Every journey must end, and that may be at home – the most glorious ending of all.’ Homecoming If there is one story that we, in our need for narrative, Persistently ask for, it is a tale of homecoming; The journey of a classical hero coming back from a war To the uncertain reception of an importuned wife Is one to which we have been listening For an awfully long time; though we may know how it ends, The beginning is still capable of fascinating Even the most restless audience – difficulties May abound, it seems, on even the most innocent Journey back from the office; those who set off On a route they have used time and time again May still be surprised by the dangers that beset The quotidian traveller; reaching home, it seems, Is not always a forgone conclusion. So we are always relieved when the haven we reach Is revealed to be the right one, and waiting friends Receive us with all the enthusiasm of those Who have hoped for something that has now happened; We may be accustomed to thinking of ourselves As self-determining creatures, whose fate Is firmly in hands we recognise as our own, But the reality may be somewhat different: If, when constructing an intricate machine, The part we pick up clicks into place without argument, If input and output match with a satisfying equivalence, Then that may have nothing to with any design We have elaborated ourselves; the cadence That resolves a piece of music was probably there Before Bach committed it to his populous staves; But that need not worry us too much; what matters Is that we finally reach our destination, the chapter We’re reading is ended, the book put away And the light turned off; reaching home, we discover, Is a process, long in the making, but not one That those coming home ever mistake For anything else; bands and ticker-tape May be absent from the occasion of our return, But we may be forgiven for imagining them, And believing, even falsely, they are no less than our due: Even the least of us, after all, may deserve to come home.