Simple pleasure
of returning home

the adulthood of knowing
my lady will not return with me

here we are
listening to music
and counting the days

talking about children
and getting restless

going for a walk
and you hook your arm around mine
and we are one

I am not scared anymore
I see the future
and I am not scared

My past no longer haunts me,
most days,
I am complete

Occasionally, I fracture
we all fracture from time to time
and that is fine
All well and good

Humpty Dumpty had a problem
It isn’t mine
I am broken and then whole
whole and then cracked

The way life wants me to be
The way God wants me to be

I know a sturdy whole
by studying the splinters

I learn the details
through a patchwork tapestry

I look at the endless November sky
, tinged with an enticing danger,
and prepare to return home

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

One thought on “Coming home”
  1. beautiful mikey…really beautiful.so do you want to comet o Federico’s defense on monday? i am gonig too- he said yuo can just go with him…and stay with us that nightanyways, i will be at the airport to pik you up!

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