Shelters

Later in life, I’ve found

there are many kinds of shelter,

many ways we lean upon each other,

many structures that give us what we need

(fairy tale castles, after all,

being hard to come by,

and within, beset by drafts and rodents,

picture perfect cottages proved lacking

in dimension)

I have a lean-to in a corner of my mind

that’s made of nothing, as far as I can tell,

except my love,

I have a fire

that delights me every time

I find it still burning,

its cheering flames

produced by time with friends

I have a sense that after

all my fumbling efforts at this life,

the shelters lost, or casually abandoned,

I’ll come to find that nothing mattered,

and everything did,

that shelter resides

in any circle of support,

and they are numerous

as crystals on the shore.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 28, 2016