Departing Wounds

As I sit in the airport waiting for my plane

1,000 thoughts and emotions formulate in my brain.

These past two weeks impacted my life so deep

The utter thought of leaving just makes me weep.

How do I thank this country that stole my heart?

I have so much to say that I don't know where to start.

How can I let you into my soul?

Make you feel what I feel about not letting go?

Words are merely not the way...

to portray to you how I live my life from day to day

Because there no longer is a Here and Thereafter

There is only a Before Armenia and then an After.

I went back to the kids with the big brown eyes

I saw them grow up into big girls and big guys.

The old lady on the corner no longer sits and weeps

A smile has grown on her face as the unpaved roads turn into beautiful streets.

My dear country, you are so divine and so precious

Under the rain, on top of the Cascade, in the middle of the night!

This sight makes my restless.

I cannot wait to run into your open arms once more

Even though I left, you will always be what I am waiting for.

My Yeghpyirs and Kouyrigs I made along the way

Will remain in my prayers every single solitary day.

The experience I have had and the lifestyle I lived

Is the greatest gift that God could have gived.

But as of now, America waits for me

I have obligations and duties that won't let me be.

I shall relay your greatness with everyone I meet

From schoolmates to cousins even people walking down the street.

So dearest Armenia I will see you again someday

So you can fill me up with emotions that take my breathe away.

- Rita Manoukian