“Where is the Hearth?”
January 2018, in College Park, Maryland
In this distant year and land,
no household focus draws us near:
No hand-hewn logs now feed the flames
that warm and light and feed us all.
But though the first-and-last-born one
no longer has her civic flame,
Her sacred hearth is not yet quenched.
The candle I forget to light
when I set out to cook a feast?
The warmth of friends now crowded close
about the table set for them?
The smell of cabbage soup and safety
that my partner calls my home?
Her fire lives on in our hearts.