A Quiet Evening Of Birmingham, Michigan

                                               Hahn Joong Lee


I wonder how I came here to this peaceful corner of this new world,
rich in twilights of the evening,
in the shadows of the familiar old trees under the familiar old, full moon,
and most importantly, in love.
I find no more need to travel around this planet
to find what an ambitious young man once meant to look for.

When the darkness of the evening muffles the last noises of the village,
Birmingham falls in sleep untroubled, and
I become part of the quiet evening
with my body and soul permeated thoroughly
with peace and serenity, and
walk miles in the dark.

I run miles and miles,
through the lanes of my memory, and
I try to calm my restlessness and rest my tired soul.
It is exactly ten years since I left Korea.

I know where my children are sleeping.
I know where my lovely wife is waiting.
I know how to find my way back home
in the quiet evening of Birmingham, Michigan.

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The above poem was written in 1975, two years after my family, five of us,
move into our first house in Birmingham.
The ages of my three children were 8, 6 and 4.
And I was 35.