Where Do We Belong?

The seagull seemed out of place

Or at least in a place one is not often there to see

On Baltimore near Exeter

With other local birds, all appearing hungry.

It was while we ran east on Baltimore,

Headed back to Patterson Park,

After a run that took us to the Jones Falls

Starting while it was still a little dark.

And we noted how unusual

It was to find the seagull there

Rather than at the Inner Harbor or the bay

Or perhaps the seashore.  Someplace where

One would expect to find other gulls

Perhaps an entire flock

Rather than just the lonely one

There near the corner of the block.

And as we ran closer to the gull

It rose up and made its sound

Telling us it was not happy

That we were even around.

So, to him we must have appeared

Just as much out of our place

Running so early in the heat

With only one training for a race.

And perhaps there really is not absolute

Place in which we should truly be

And so it is just a question of

How often we are there to see.

And where we should truly be is not so much a place

As in relation to others who

Share the love and joy and passion

Like the gull’s flock we find our “tribe” so true.

And so in the end the most important note

Was that the gull was not with others of its kind.

It needed to return to its flock

As much as any person needs to find

The tribe to whom he or she relates

The one or group providing love and being there

To help the person to self-actualize

To love, to care. To help and to share.