Home is Where Your Heart Grows

A home seems so simple

when it's yours, from the get go.

But if it's the one thing you lack,

it looms almighty and complex.

Often people take their home for granted,

As life flows from day to day;

never quite appreciating the role home plays.

Those who've never felt treasured

throughout their youth,

would feel this toll upon their soul.

Growing up without one true home,

is like being lost at sea, without a raft of hope;

no beacon of light to shine safe passage to dry shores.

To be born into a loving family

is a privilege indeed,

but there's so much more

to meet children's needs.

All children really need to thrive

are loving hands and soulful eyes,

someone to hug and soothe them

during a frightful night.

When you feel like

a treasure within your home,

there's no place you cannot go.

Love and comfort is

sunshine and water

to a child.

Without it, the child's

soul surely wilts.

Their solid foundation

crumbles and falls away.

No one to soothe your achy soul,

to comfort you in your safe cozy bed .

Home is like a mirage;

should you come too close,

it may disappear,

Then you're alone with all your tears,

No one to calm your fears.

Now I've grown,

and have a son of my own,

I see how much I've missed from my own childhood.

I remember feeling like I was cast away

like something no one wanted.

For there must be something

so despicable about me,

nothing worthy to save.

Never would I wish this for any child;

when you don't feel loved,

you throw caution to the wind

and become quite wild.

You don't care about the consequences.

In fact, you're playing Russian roulette,

whatever happens, you shan't fret.

In yesteryears,

I'd drink to chase my pain away.

Until I realized, there's not much gain

in trying "numb your soul,"

while filling your head

with hyperbole.

All your troubles lie in wait;

Poor decisions may seal your fate.

I yearned for a home to call my own,

I was afraid to trust,

to let love soothe my exhausted soul.

It seemed life was a bust.

I resented people's happiness,

but it's no way to live.

Love is so much easier to give than to receive.

This is the notion I used to deceive.

My own little family,

whom I love so much,

I often fight tooth and nail,

surely I don't deserve them,

so I try to bail.

I'm learning to be more gentle

to the sad and angry girl within.

I must hug and treat her well,

or I'm just like everyone else.

The girl who still rages inside,

from the indignities tossed her way,

My fire is her inner strength,

it's my desire to extinguish

this burning pain inside.

I'll find my one true home,

then inner peace will be sublime.