Soon I’ll be home;
time will move again.
My heart will thaw,
Beating outside the frost.

Preserving its warmth,
I carefully packed its pulse—

Kept in frozen brief moments:
Three a.m., laughing in the stairwell
Floor-dusting kitchen dancing,
Long gates and airport goodbyes,
The tightest hug I ever had—

Soon I’ll be home;
I will breathe again.
My heart will thaw,
beating outside the frost.

Summer is a promise—
Ice is melting;
with every tick
of the passing clock

Our laughter echoed in the forest.
Chill wind tangling my hair.
Good insulation in my chest.  
Knowing glances.
Someone who cares.
Such a brief moment—
In the air, fog mixed with fate.
Humans are social animals.
Today I was reminded,
—in the sweetest of ways.

Deep in the middle
of the Irish midlands,
my essence is all over.

You’d put one foot inside
and say I haven’t changed—
hoarding sentimental knick-knacks,
all valueless, all lovely,
all me.

You’d put one foot inside,
and say I haven’t changed—
house like a heart: So cozy, so warm,
all irrelevant, all lonely,
all me.