Island Heart

Homesickness poem

I carry deep in my heart our home in Tobermory, the mountain, the castles, and the fishing boats in the harbor.

The view toward Inch Kenneth, leaving the house, taking the winding road to main street and the barber.

The journey moving toward home again, crossing bridges, feeling the distance from love in a life getting older.

Never closer than when her arms around me, never so far away from our bed, her head lying on my shoulder.

I’ve walked the city streets, felt the loneliness in those places, making plans and scheming to find a way back home.

No need of a home in suburbia, only room within her heart, our bodies warming each other, knowing love can’t last alone.

Separated by a million miles of ocean, it’s the country lanes and faces I remember, January to December her breathing.

Treading the footpath to our love beyond tomorrow, long past yesterday, until there’s nothing left worth leaving.

Returning home to where the fog is thickest, where branches bend to north easterly winds, feel nothing and to sleep.

There are no gates in love, nowhere to walk in or out, everything has to be paid for, it’s enough to make one weep.

I have no idea where to hide, to be invisible, to begin again, except to be home where the fog stays… and stays.

I can never be without her in my heart, love a thousand times over the beauty of the island, the heartache of her ways.