Shells + Sonnet

Oh shell, oh comfort, oh quiet safety, how I’ve drawn into you recently. How I’ve carried you, home, for my entire life but dragged more as a kite tail across the globe. Now I’ve found you after years, still on my back, still with the right amount of space for me to snug into. Now I know you, I miss you, and want to return always to you even as I travel, even with you with me on my back. I cannot wait to come home.

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We beg do not go out into the cold
Stay home, inside away from window drafts
Sit still and watch the wind outside go past
Your world is here, away from the unknown
Trust us, nothing waits out there, stay home.
My breath frosts over faces and glass
The draft does find my wrist and clasps
Tightly, still they swear on the world they’ve shown.

But a world away the conifers laugh,
drizzled and dancing soft in the moon beams.
Letting the rivers roar cover my tracks,
I move my life westward through field and stream.
Sweet Pacific, accept my aftermath,
wash my feet in your sea and let me dream.