I am a tourist in my own backyard.
It seems and feels eerily familiar,
but I do not belong here.
And yet, here I am,
surrounded by caring people
who don't know how to help me.

A haunting from my distant history,
as well as a constant cadence of the beat,
drums in my head.
Instead of soaking up my surroundings,
the opposite appears to be the case,
why I just can't sit and relax is difficult to embrace.

In case you haven't noticed,
I am delicately discerning this dilemma
while it proceeds around me.
Hoping to find a solution solvent enough
To satisfy everyone--
At best, an improbability.

Imagine walking barefoot on the beach
with the woman I love,
forward and facing upward---
my handicaps are cast aside.
A keen sense of freedom overtakes me,
as she honors me with newly discovered pride.