Bottled Messages

I'm in love with a world I have never met
Traitor to my city
and even my mistress golden state

Longing to get lost in foreign dialect
Travel to the places
that caused me to turn pages

There are hidden masterpieces
by artists well and little known
that my soul wishes to soak up

Music of other cultures
that cross universal divides
and make my body move

Streets that hold more history
than any classroom can teach
call for me to explore them

There are beaches with waves that have yet to lap at my ankles
and sand yet to burn my soles
Where I will wish for bottled messages in romance languages

My knees have yet to bruise
on temple floors
while I have a private conversation with God

I was born into a city
housing samples of the world within its streets
A prerequisite to my ultimate dream
of finding who I am
by being lost in the world