I've seen the care you give to animals
From the smallest rodents
To the biggest dogs
You gave them love and homes

I should have seen the signs
I was only a person to you
When you broke my home
When you took my love

You loved animals
More than your own person
Yet you left me
Like a wounded animal

My third home is so unmoved.  
It stays as recalled
smelling of the comfort of the first and last
as if to harbour memories regardless
of age, refusing to release its hold,
it stands so full of heart,
with echoes of dinner

with steam lifting from hefts
of potatoes and withered veg,
an adamant replay of checkered tablecloths
and brown orange tableware,
long cracked and stacked. You see how it was.
Close your eyes and hear the scrapes
of plates, the kettle.  
And that veined mug.

Abrupt decline
No pilot driving
Chutes opening
An empty vessel
But your hands are steady
And I feel myself landing

Hardened by times
of neglect,
assault
Years of hostility
I fought
But in your contagious serenity
I feel myself softening

I shouldn’t be here
I am reminded all the time
Constant memories
of it is all my fault
Is it all my fault?
All the gates are closed
But I see your arms opening
And I feel at home