She had wandered

a lifetime,

could not recall

her place of

belonging

if it had ever existed

at all…

She made her way

through the undergrowth

in a world

she did not

recognize as hers,

except for fleeting

moments

when light would break

through the canopy

above her,

warming her

and gilding her heart

and eyes

with the gold of it…

Even as it dimmed

and flickered

away

she dreamed of

climbing,

up and into it

never to be cold

or alone

or lost again…

But she could not see

a way up

and late at night

she wept in her dreams

and opened her eyes

every morning

to the wildflowers

that sprang up

in the darkness

while she slept…

It was hope

she gathered to her ~

the vivid colors,

velvet textures and

sacred scents

that come from everything

nourished

from the center of

the heart…

It was courage

she carried with her

feeding it from

faintly remembered

whispers

of what she had once

believed

as a child…

And it seemed,

to those who watched her

from the edges,

that she would sink

into the quicksands

hidden there,

or falter when the path

ended in a wall

of stone…

But she lifted her face

to the light she

remembered,

pressed herself against

the wall and began

to climb.