Three Days in Oregon

Three years from home, got two years to go, but you’ll never see it the same way again
Your Rockies are empty; your streets are pretending; palimpsests make up a noose
Three years from home, still better than most, but your compass stopped pointing you east
Versions of memories imprinted in reverie cry, ‘Why did you ever have to leave?’

Three months alone and the world on your throne, but you can’t sleep in silence tonight
You can look to the past, but don’t stare at the forecast, it’ll burn through your eyes like a fire
Three months alone, and if only you’d known how to tell those stories in your head
But life falls apart when your friends all depart and nostalgia finally puts you to bed

Three days in Oregon, got two days to go, with the oceans and the prairies on a northwestern road
Through mountains and seasides, through bend after bend, you don’t think you’d want this to end
Three days in Oregon to cap off a year of figuring it out on your own
But your people reside under your coastal starlight, so it was never your story to tell

Three hours from Seattle, two more from the coast, and you’re leaving your old self behind
To a northwest metropolis, don’t you dare stop for this, these people are what make you, you
Campfires, basements, downtown apartments, this time the journey’s alright
Because it’s a homebound drive, the transplanted survive, and you’re free, you’re here, you’re alive.