Boarding a Plane for Japan

Q  Boarding a Plane for Japan       Q
 4-5 September 2013 in the air from L.A. to Houston


I'm a traveller. It's what I do. It's what I have always done. It's in my blood.
 Cars, trains, buses, planes, ships - trecking over mountains and fields - 
that is my life since childhood. 

 I am usually a very positive person, but every once in awhile, things come up that get me down. Sometimes it's being away from family and friends. 
Sometimes it's my health.
Sometimes it's the work.
Sometimes it's the years. 
Sometimes it's the miles. 

After a tiring, unhappy trip one day, I felt that the end was nearing for my way of life - 
and, somehow, even I wished for it to come to a close. 
I don't feel like that too often, thank goodness, but after a combination of things conspired to give me a very bad trip, I wrote down what was in my heart. 

 Nothing at all against Japan!! - - - I love the country. It's just that when the realization hits you that things are coming to an end at long last, and you realize your heart's not in your job anymore, 
it's a sad thing indeed.

                            

Boarding a Plane for Japan

I awake bleary-eyed without making a sound,

At wee hours of morning, I drive past downtown;

Fighting the traffic, I plow through the rain...

Wish I never would leave here again!

But leave here I will, in the hours just past dawn;

Soar out of the rainstorm without word or song.

For a few more years yet, I will do what I can...

And I board my next flight to Japan.

No more bosses, computers, no hours on the phone,

No more office gossip - I've left that alone!

What kind of man is it that I have become...

That I journey so far from my home?

Now trips last for six days; there's plenty of pay,

The house is near paid for with my work done each day;

If we're to be fed, then I do what I can...

So I board this next flight to Japan...

In the Japanese towns they pour sake and beer,

And I ask myself often: What am I doing here?

In a land far away I just can't understand,

Still I keep coming back to Japan!

Yes, the days grow together - each one is the same,

And I'm glad that this land has no lovelier name.

For it's all just a job, now - I work while I can,

And I board my next flight to Japan.

Oh the trips they drag out, as the work takes its toll;

The days they grow shorter - and I'm growing old.

It's as good as it gets, now my time is at hand -

Time to board that next flight to Japan!