My Neighborhood

I have a neighborhood where the doors are open
And I am welcome to visit any time I want
No need to make an appointment or ask permission
I just let myself in and look around.

Sometimes I come in through the front entry
And proceed in an orderly fashion from the front to the exit at the rear
Sometimes I come in through the side or even through the back
And just jump around from place to place in no particular order.

I find the most amazing jewels as I explore
Some are bright and shiny so there is no mistaking their value
Others do not appear to be jewels at all until
I turn them and turn them examining each facet closely.

I hold each found jewel carefully until I can hold no more
For certainly the doors have been left open and the jewels displayed for me to do so,
Yet somehow when I return home, I am holding fewer jewels than I left with
Though I can't imagine how some vanished, at least I held them for a moment.

The most wonderful part about my neighborhood
Is that when I revisit a location, the original jewels still are there
And there always are more jewels that must have been hidden away
Or more likely, I just missed them on my prior visits.

I would like to thank everyone in my neighborhood
But I won't be able to send a proper thank you or to find them
So perhaps just a shout in the neighborhood will have to do
And when I do, this is what I will say

Thank you for gift of the places that you have created
With such care that they shall last forever.

Thank you for leaving such beautiful jewels
For me to hold, to examine and to take with me.

Thank you for always being there in my neighborhood
So I always know where to find you.

Thank you my dear friends:
Shakespeare, Fitzgerald and Vonnegut,
Conrad, Lewis and Salinger,
Steinbeck, Orwell and Golding,
Hesse, Casaneda and Quinn,
Asimov, Tolkien and Bradbury,
Diamant, Dawkins and Armstrong,
And to all of the others who have resided there from time to time.