The Long Way Home {poetry}

I will take the long way home.

The one path that's empty

and a little steep.

I'll grow used to 

the shadows along the edges,

the wind's sad cries

through each and every branch,

and the hole inside my heart --

the hole where I hoped 

you'd make yourself at home.

I guess I'll take the long way home

and remember how to watch my feet

stay steady on each shifting rock

and what it's like

to keep my eyes on God.

I'll decorate my heart

with each piece of beauty

I find along the trail

until my soul feels full,

instead of halfway empty. 

The loneliness can't be so bad

when there's no chance

you'll pull it from my heart,

like a band aid ripping off. 

Somehow sameness can be bearable

when there's no chance for it to shift.

Somehow flashes of a hope that then falters

cause me to veer right off my course.

So I will take the long way home,

the only path with no one else,

and remember what it means

to believe God truly is enough.