Home

Home is unbound

undefined by walls.

It’s the sigh of relief

hobbling through the door

following the demands of the day,

and the tik tik tik of tiny claws

as the dog greets me

with a wag and a jump

and a flip on her back

for belly rubs.

It’s my bursting heart

and settling soul

when my girls visit

and divulge their

dilemmas and delights,

confiding their secrets

over spaghetti and meatballs.

It’s the giddiness of gathering

with friends, new and old,

relating anecdotes

we’ve all heard before

while moshing to Mudhoney

or swaying to Snoop Dogg

and sloshing wine by the

blaze of a fire pit.

It's clashing emotions

when calling on parents;

Dad tells yesteryear tales

or laments dead friends,

Mom gazes past a window,

through a portal to memories

she no longer recalls

as CNN flickers quietly

in the background.

No. Home is beyond walls,

ineffable, limitless.

It is pulses and poundings,

sensations, vibrations,

rhythms and beats

engendered by encounters

bred by the band that resides

within and independent

of its margins.