home by morning

hours after the sun goes down
she settles into her bed
her head on the pillow
and her eyes gently close

and she quietly slips out the door

to fight the darkest of shadows
the kind that break hearts and families
and to travel along the greatest of paths
behind courageous thinkers and dreamers
and those who made things happen

once again she sees and talks with the ones she loves
who are no longer here to hug
she sings on stage
and dances in the rain
and has the conversations she always meant to have
sometimes yelling at the one who brought all the bad to be

she protects the weak and feeds the hungry
and rides a horse along the beach
then swims as though she has the tail of a mermaid
for miles and miles

she hears the music she long forgot
and picks the fruit from the trees at places
she can no longer call her own
and she tastes it, every nuance of flavor just as she remembered

she accepts the blame she should have long ago
and makes things right from times before
she cooks fabulous meals and burns the biscuits
and sits for hours laughing around the table
where all the stories she’s lost are told again

she wears fabulous ball gowns
staring up at the midnight sky from the deck of a ship
and walks into a room of her peers
in only her underwear
cringing in fear of being noticed
and worrying over the test
she never studied for

she laughs over a joke she cannot remember
and speaks to the embassy
and holds the hand of the one she loved

with every moment she moves quickly
from one thing to the next
seemingly seamlessly

until finally
she is home by morning

where she is meant to be
tucking her dreams away
until night comes again