To my home, the words take me
  each calling by name

Tearing walls from around me
  passion free, unrestrained

Their visions at midnight
  have lulled me to sleep

Their message when troubled
  my nightmare to greet

Through the long and the short
  it’s the words once again

Like the tide on the shore,
  they return as a friend

And lately I’m hearing
  an echoed refrain

From verses long distant
  offloading my pain

These words that I hear
  more whisper than shout

And what I once questioned,
  I no longer doubt

Through my voice they’re respoken
  to shield me from harm

Their peace like a blanket
   —under which I am warm

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)