First Home
While planets spun on their axes
And while light
Travelled from far away stars through
Bedroom windows,
I was your first home.
While the sun nourished leaves
On patient trees,
who later fell onto cold earth,
Red with scorn,
I was your first home.
You will grow old one day,
With a home of your own.
Fill it with colors that bounce light
Around the room like the iridescence of a
Butterfly’s wing.
Let the birds in your yard
Linger
Even if they are
Uncurteous neighbors
Sometimes.
And when the Earth covers
The tired parts of me,
Find me in threads of wind, and
Think of me,
Your first home.
Vanessa Butler