The Long Way Home

Your body has changed,
But you still remain.
Life plays a hard game,
Changing all it seems.

To adapt is to survive,
And to give is compromise.
Spinning with the world,
Rather than it spinning for you.

To fight is to ever fail
Those that count on you.
To give in is to fail
The child living inside.

We honor parents past
With generations anew.
The cause is righteous—
A selfless, greater good.

For boys who once ran
Without care or worry,
A life calls for home—
The innocence and ease.

Those that know well
The me before the better me—
Escape is now a bridge
Over life’s chasm of time.

Memories long forgotten,
As time smooths the edges.
So we ride in formation,
A contemplative silence,

And see it all before you—
Every crack and pothole.
As noonday sun sits overhead,
Caught in the in-between.

Too young to understand,
And too old to simply care.
In freedom’s unfamiliar form—
Grown men become small again,

Like the kids once known
On dusty streets of home.
Not to fight life’s reality,
But to honor miles past.

Until sunset cuts shadows,
And our exit nears ahead.
Soon to park for a season—
Back to noble pursuits.

Those that know us best,
Who truly love us most,
And chase the bouncing ball—
For freedom's future promise.

If we work and make hay,
We will dance in the rain.
In time, in time, in time!

But for now, the clock’s hands
Are paused for just a respite.
Scoff at time’s marching—
In child like defiant pursuit.

Until a glimpse is seen
Of he that you used to be,
Riding with the steady keeper
Of the me that I used to be.

Nicholas Campos ~ May 2025