@starry_ink
LONELY
Longer evenings stretching into quiet / Out there, others carry the same silence
LAMP
Left on until the last one goes to bed / A warm point in the darkened room
HOME
Hallway mirror that shows the tired version / One window cracked all year for the sound
DAWN
Day starting in increments the sky barely notices / A bus passing while the street is still asleep
TEA
Too hot at first and then exactly right / Every steep a slightly different result
GENTLE
Going slowly through the difficult / Every movement made with care
TRUST
Turning toward the one who might betray you / Resting anyway and choosing to believe
LUNCH
Later than planned but still welcome / Usually the same thing on Wednesdays
WALK
Weather finally good and the coat unnecessary / Around the long way because of the light
BRAVE
Breaking through the wall of doubt / Rising even after the fall
HOME
Hanging coat and the transition is complete / Out of the day and into this
PHOTO
Pressed inside a book for a decade / How it got there is no longer clear
FAITH
Falling forward into the unseen / Anchored when the sea runs rough
NIGHT
Now the whole house has gone to its corners / Inside quiet broken only by the building
HILL
Here in the wind there is a different thinking / Into the weather rather than away from it
WARM
Woven through the ordinary hours / Arriving without announcement or fanfare
NEAR
Nothing profound is hiding somewhere distant from you now / Everything you need to understand is present in this moment
CHILD
Cold hands from the walk and needing warming / Heavy bag dropped at the door with ceremony
VALE
Vapour rising from the early morning ground / A bowl the hills have made to hold the cold air
SKY
Still above everything that tries to reach it / Keeping every bird it ever held in memory
DANCE
Done before breakfast with no particular reason / Arms moving because the body wanted to
WALK
Wind switched direction halfway through / Around the reservoir where the ducks ignore everyone
SIGH
Speaking through the body what the mind won't say / Inward first and then the soft release
MEAL
Made on a Thursday because Fridays are uncertain / Everything timed to come together at once
YEARN
Yesterday keeps pulling at the heart / Every want becomes a kind of ache
HILL
Here in the wind there is a different thinking / Into the weather rather than away from it
MEAL
Monday soup made from Sunday’s bones / Everything a little better with company
DAWN
Day pouring slow over the edge of hills / And before the sun the birdsong fills the dark
HUMAN
How much we share beneath the differences we name / Under every stranger is a story close to your own
OPEN
One step toward what you do not understand is worth more than ten steps toward what you do / Presence without agenda is the most welcome kind a person can offer
SHORE
Staying here longer than we planned / Here the worry that came with us grows smaller
FACT
Finding the actual beneath the story takes practice and nerve / A fact does not care about your comfort or convenience
BOOK
Best when the whole afternoon disappears / One cup of tea gone cold during chapter three
CHILD
Carrying something found that must be kept / Heavy sigh at bedtime meaning not yet
CHAIR
Comfortable in the way of long familiarity / Holds a throw blanket in every season
VALE
Very still the vale holds its breath at dawn / All the rabbits out on the short wet grass
TENDER
Touching carefully the fragile thing / Every gesture soft and slow
MEAL
Made before anyone knew they were hungry / Everyone at the table and the phones away
GROVE
Gathering the light in its canopy / Roots intertwined below the soft needle floor
HOME
Hooks by the door for keys and hats / Old floorboard creaking in the hall
WARM
With you, the cold becomes a thing remembered / A fire that needs no wood, just your presence
OCEAN
Old salt and the smell of deep distance / Currents pulling everything toward the dark
SAND
Scattered by the gale into our eyes / All the castles gone before the tide
HOME
Hat on the hook and the day let go / One kitchen that knows all your habits
LILY
Long stalks bending over the pond edge / In July the whole surface is white with them
SEED
Sleeping through the last cold weeks alone / Each day underground a small decision
CALM
Centering yourself in what is real returns the world to focus / A quiet inside is not the same as a quiet outside, but helps
SELF
Seeing yourself clearly, without defense, is the hardest and most useful thing / Every version of the self was doing what seemed best from where it stood
ANGER
All the heat has nowhere left to go / No one heard the warning given
LAKE
Light pooling in the still green water / A mirror for the clouds and passing birds