Home in My Heart

I used to not know what I would call home,

As it’s something that I had never known.

A spacious house with pool and yard

Means nothing when your time there leaves scars.

That couldn’t be home, that place of despair

That might well have cracked me beyond repair.

Over the years, I caught glimpses of home

In books, with pets, a soft wish in the gloam.

Easy laughter, light hearts, worries at bay,

Quiet late nights in countries far away

The warm comfort in embracing a friend

Relaxing times where my smiles weren’t pretend.

I’m not there yet, but these days, I see home

Returning there now is not cause to groan.

If I keep onwards, I’ll find myself there

With people and things about which I care.

Safely in their arms by a cracking fire,

Pets and books abound, and love that won’t tire.

What I’ve learned about the thing I call home

Is that it’s with me wherever I roam.

The drifting and hurt of bygone years

Might not go fully, as wounds persevere

But I have home in friends, in love, in art

That which prevails- the true home in my heart.