Why I Came Here

January 26, 1986

Nogal, New Mexico

Why I Came Here

                By Cathie R. Eisen

It was the short part of a long journey

A bad case of wanderlust and a promise of cool pines

After a long and dry winter in El Paso.

It was a part of a journey that had just begun,

Four years out of twenty two

Spent traveling the highways and chasing the wind.

It was the short part of a long journey

One hundred fifty miles instead of thousands,

Across a few mountains instead of a country.

A winding mountain highway instead of an interstate.

The beginning of the end of my ramblings.

Yes, it was the short part of a long journey.

It was the summer I fell in love and the first time

In all of my travels that I decided to stay.

It was a stepping stone in my journey of life,

But one I found many times over

And continued to return to that very same place.

Why did I come here to New Mexico?

Need I even ask?

Perhaps it was fate or destiny

Who can ever say?

I only know that the wind is not so hot,

That the mountains are more green,

That the highway no longer calls me.

And that is why I stay.