my mother always said,
“home is where your heart is”.

I never realized what that meant
until it’s foundation unexpectedly built itself around
the way you made me laugh harder than anyone else ever has
And the fact that
the walls of my residence raised themselves
With you inside them.

I was fearless when I met you,
but now
I cower in the dark
out of terror
at the thought of the
trees above us collapsing
onto the roof in the middle of the storm.

I used to sleep peacefully,
But now I toss and turn all night,
Waking up every hour,
In a cold sweat,
Thinking
“What if you lose the keys and never come back”

Love was always just a word,
but it became something more when I looked at you.
It struck the trees,
burned a hole right through the center,
and ignited a flame that never went out,
even when it rained.

But with the rain comes
Thunder, lightning,
Darkness, frigity,
Blood, bone,
And tears that would flood the basement.

The wind huffed and puffed,
And blew my whole notion of a house down,
Shaking my home
so violently,
That it stripped the carpet
Inch by inch,
And the outside,
brick by brick
Until you moved out because
Our sanctuary
Had became an inhabitable living space.

The weather is dangerous and always changing,
And despite the fact you try,
you can’t save everything from the storm.

No matter how hard I will try to keep the floorboards from coming up,
And how hard I will try to keep the shingles on the roof from coming apart,
An umbrella can’t stop a hurricane,
A child with a hose can’t stop a wildfire,
A lit match can’t stop a blizzard,
A band aid can’t heal a **** that will never stop bleeding,

And my house,
No matter how many times I rebuild it,
Will never stop burning to the ground.