(for Maje Adams)
When given the opportunity to connect with
No
To be welcomed back into your
Home
No
Family?
Do you take it?
//
You reached out your hand and I took it. It felt too good —I pull away almost immediately
I look behind me seeing the ash of my life I burned
and I begin to cry
Through the tears I see you next to me
Still here
Still—
Here
Tears tear through my body and we sit down on the bench. You hold me close
Rest here as long as you need, im here and im not leaving, but you need me to promise that you
will not go back. You made it too far
Everything in my body says to turn back to the life I knew.
I look deep into your eyes, and my voice shakes as I whisper ok, I promise
You do not let go as I watch the life I thought I knew disappear before my eyes.
Copyright © 2024 by Chandler Peters-Durose. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 9, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.