Homeward Bound

A couple of months ago I was in a hostel somewhere in New Zealand and, as always, I had gone to bed early with my book. While reading, I could hear the other hostel guests sitting below my window, listening to music and chatting away. I was only vaguely aware of all this until I heard the familiar strains of Simon and Garfunkle´s Homeward Bound. I stopped reading and listened closely to the words, which suddenly had new meaning to me. After a minute I realized that all the conversation had stopped among the other guests, and they too seemed to be listening intently to the song. Apparently they also longed to be where their thought are escaping, where their music´s playing, where their loves lie waiting silently for them.

I have been singing that tune to myself (and sometimes out loud) for quite a while, but now I am singing it a bit louder and more frequently. I will be homeward bound in just a few weeks, about which I am very excited. I think I am done with traveling, certainly with traveling alone. I see other people with their friends, and I get jealous. I have read a lot of books. I have spent a lot of time sitting and thinking (sometimes I just sits). I have seen many lovely things, but at this point I have simply become jaded, and as I see another monkey in another jungle-vined tree, I think to myself, "Seen it already."

Is this what it means to be world weary? I don´t think so, but that is exactly how I feel. Right now I just long to be Homeward Bound....