the broad sky welcomed you

to breathe

roam free

grow

despite yourself

you turned around

as many loves come and gone

as moons in these wide skies

now all the signs remind you:

East

which has always been home

while the vast bright blue

fluffed with cozy clouds

beckons

asks you to stay

the way a cowboy might

quiet like

offering wild freedom

open spaces

animal comforts

home is here, now

and all the places you’ve been

skies you promise

to be gone from only a little while

heading East

hustle and bustle

strangers loud, stressed, depressed

in the hem of a too-close horizon

a foreground of vehicles and pavement

enough

to snatch the breath from your throat

as if that’s all you can remember

of a place you called home

before

this wide expanse

wrenched your heart from its safe spaces

leaving only sky

it startled you on the seventh day

now, in the seventh month

it’s where you feel alive