Follow Yourself Home

Following life as it demands that you venture
further and further out into the world
Until you become caught in your own forgetting
and find yourself far away from where your dreams began
Promising you will take care of yourself soon

At last, stopping bewildered and dazed
The enchanted forest has become bleak and black
and you are lost
too long away from your heart’s home

Time to leave the responsibilities still asking
and the tasks unfinished
Close your ears to the screaming complaints
and the unending demands

Hold still and listen
to the faint and distant rhythm that is your own
and follow and follow and follow
Until you recognise yourself in your step
and follow and follow and follow
Until you remember
and know yourself once more
Until you settle back into your own relieved body
and vow to never get lost again

That with each adventure out into the world
you will always come home to yourself
and rest

JANE O’SHEA
from ‘Follow Yourself Home - 1st edition’