The south had something to say & you spoke ever so loudly

Each word as nourishing as the last 

Where considering you home gave me a sense of my place in the world

You told me that nowhere else will satisfy me

And you were right

Maybe it’s the way the sun shines a little brighter here

Where our joy transcends past transgressions 

Seeped in the soil as the unlikely combination of nutrients allow the flowers to grow 

Or maybe it’s our humanity reflected in the beauty around us

Where trees have branches so high that reaching them is like reaching God

And wide trunks growing roots deep in the ground, seemingly so that the tree can spread its legs

Almost as if it’s calling itself closer to Earth

It could be that city skyline view from 1-85

Where the buildings wrap around you

Pulling you deeper into its embrace 

Most times I can’t tell 

As the source of magic is all the same

It broke my heart when you kept going

As if something wasn’t missing

As if you knew that by abandoning you

I was truly abandoning myself

And you were right

But I also changed as you did

Both becoming different versions of what we were 

Meeting each other again as if it was our first time 

Because it was