I want to go home, he says.
This is home, I say,
and then I pause, and ask,
what would make it feel like home
to you?

It takes a few times of asking,
then he says, it doesn’t matter —
anywhere there are two or more persons
to receive you.
Well, that’s all right, I say,
because we are here. There are three of us.
This is your home.

I feel a little uneasy,
because I have used a bit of force
in an issue of hygiene.
Perhaps it felt hostile.

I do my best, now,
to fill this living space
with the glow of home,
to be one who receives him
as well as one who puts him to bed.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 14, 2017