There is a place where I grew
Into a girl with an unsteady heart.
It is green and small and unsafe.
There are trees and a wide blue ocean,
And the sky is expansive beyond comprehension.
Here I saw the night sky dancing,
From a rooftop height,
As though in the palm of my hand.
With fingers splayed like moon beams,
I reached up to pick my dreams.

And that girl grew into a woman
With a passion and fiery for the truth.
But sorrow and deceit ate my soul,
So I learnt to persist and nurture trust:
Intuition became the only companion in the darkness.

So the woman in me grew into a tree.
With roots in African soils
And boughs in expansive skies.
The leaves took flight and my heart followed
Around the world to find perspective,
To live difficult dreams
In an unsteady world,
Where home is a lonelier place sometimes.
But the sun shines and the tree is tall,
From the love given and received.

The tree is strong,
With roots that burrow deep,
A wizened old soul and
A drumming heart full and resilient,
Seeking a place to call its own.