this house is built of hearts and stones and long brown hair
and all of it is woven together, painstakingly, brilliantly
and the walls are delicate, cracked and lovely
this is my home for you
this is my gift
this is everything I have to give
and even more that I never meant to have
it’s all for you, my dear
with love
and I have betrayed you and my heart
boxes of hand drawn love notes cast aside
dust-covered and waiting for spring
when the sunlight streams through bedroom windows
and shutters open
and storm windows go up
and everything is new again
the time when the inside and outside become one
and my heart sings bird songs
and I delight in hands in warm soapy water
and the feeling of knees on wet hardwood
and everything is new again
I built this home for you my dear
and I made many mistakes
but there is beauty in these imperfections
and I feel still the love that shone through my eyes
and the haphazard, childlike heart that set the first stone
– Nisha Moodley