I start my journey back
across the chasm,
all those times of disappointment,
all those hurts, all those dry years,
the places where I felt
I’d need explanations, apologies —
to tell someone the wrongs
that had been done me

I take these steps
and virgin forest
springs up around me,
familiar as something
that’s always been here,
rich with layers and layers
of interacting life.
Where is the desert,
where the wilderness?
How deep my blindness must have been
not to have seen this!
How full the healing truth must be
to bring me home!

©Wendy Mulhern
February 24, 2017