80spoems/gather

My heart wants to gather
all that it holds dear,
that will allow itself
to be held.
People and moments,
like polished stones,
precious for their
minute but gleaming
qualities, shining
like a clear glass plate,

My anemone heart
needs an easy embrace,
not the grasping
which makes it close tight.
What it can hold without touching,
cling to as a natural act
of belonging.

How many have there been,
who could not take root
in this chambered organ,
sloughed off as the heart
tightened on itself in pain.
How many?

My heart only needs
to take in one.
But I am the one
who needs shelter,
to live in the safest home
I know,
its walls lined with
my favorite books,
where I know
the place of things
and can find my way
around in the dark.

Like a turtle,
my home on my back,
too many gypsies ancestors,
I suppose.
I need a home that travels,
one that I need never
leave behind.

No summer home,
or favorite home,
my only home.
Room for all I need,
if I go there,
everything else will follow.