homecoming blessing

may your life

imitate your art—

may words nourish your soul 
 as long rain to august—

may your heart be content 
 to enjoy the little things—

may your sleep be sound

but should you lie awake 

may your thoughts drift only 

to your many blessings—

may your life be long 
in good enough moments
 though your moments be only few—

may your name be heard 

in a loved one’s prayer

as you hold them 

in your own—

may you fall in love not once

but infinitely—

may your heart remember 
 in its darkest moments
 that there was once someone
 or something 
 that made you want to drop everything 
 & live—

may the faces of those you love 
 be never far from your thoughts
 & the grace of listening to stillness 
 be ever a breath away—

most of all
 do not despair 
 in the loneliness of it all—

only nerves rubbed raw by the cares of the world

know what it is to return home.