the place you long for

the place you feel safe

the place you create inside your mind and heart

a place of joy, of tension, of strife, of growth

of lessons learned and love lost

of abundance and emptiness

a place where we experience our first hopes and dreams

a place from which we wish to break free

it’s the walls, the floors, the table at which we once sat

with our grannies, aunties, and mothers

a place for tea and teachings

for discord and healing

at times, both soft and hard

broken and whole

home makes us who we are

tangible and intangible

real or imagined

it’s the parquet beneath our feet

it’s the soil between our toes

home surrounds us

the land calls us back

to the earth in which our ancestors are buried

it can feel both familiar and foreign all the same

it’s where we land

softly or weighted

to take rest and refuge

home is what we make it

nesting

home is with whom we are in relation

family

home is this body of mine

self

pale blue dot

safe harbour in an ever-expanding universe

in truth, it is the only home we know

it is the only home we can know

born of it

we are it and it is us

stardust

it shaped us

form

it cradled us

care

it gave us life

breathe

our mother

the place to which we return