The Long Way Home

The long way home winds through forest trees,
Under clouding skies and by salty seas.

She marvels at the crashing waves,
At rocky beaches with driftwood bays.

Dirt and stone, tired and warn
This path I’ve tread since I was born.

The long way home leads far away,
And a blistered soul is the toll I’d pay.

Paid in full for a change of mind
True North, true self, to forever find.

She bends me this way and then turns back
Prayer steps in remembrance of what I lack.

Patience, stillness, and soft hearted ways,
Are the lessons I walked with the passing days.

I learn to wait, to watch, and to wonder
But this lesson was learned through pain and through thunder.

Over the mountains and onto the plain
Open sky, sour heart, and a smile to regain

Then she twisted me round, to see and to hear,
To stand my ground and to face my fear.

I stopped and I looked, long and hard
At a piece of my soul that was blacken and charred.

I see it now, poor sunshine girl,
Shattered little pieces still trying to twirl.

To fit inside your tiny box,
To bend a spine that was made from rocks

But learning to watch, I learned how to see,
Your boxes weren’t made for someone like me.

Facing the wind is how I was built,
To stand and to fight, without sorrow or guilt.

True North, true self, to forever find,
Paid in full with a change of mind.

And the road… it goes ever, on and on,
And I start again with the each rising dawn.

To learn, to praise, to love anew,
This is the blessing I wish for you.

To be self aware and to walk in its bliss,
To pass each day in happiness.

My long way home… it lead far away,
But change will lead me back someday.

~ Alexandria Englander-Tuttle