My children and I live Belonging,
with our pets and the rest of the world,
that also never leaves Belonging.
Every bug I’ve ever seen is in Belonging.
Anything that flies must live in Belonging,
or it would never stay aloft.
The plants and animals we eat are all part of Belonging,
I know because they are so nourishing.
Some of the cooks who’ve fed me understand Belonging like few others,
their food is always the best,
no matter what they make.
They know that cooking is a giving thing,
like everything in Belonging.
So many of us wander in and out of Belonging,
not knowing where we are,
or where we come from.
But we are all attracted to Belonging,
comforting us
pulling us into itself,
spinning us in its everywhere arms for as long as we can stand it.
Still we manage to fall away,
into those strange lands of our own making.
I make places for people I’ve never met
to gather in Belonging
because I wandered so far
for so many years
thinking I could never be part of Belonging again,
until I met my children,
and our dogs and cats,
and the chickens we raised ourselves.
Now I am forever in Belonging,
I tend places here
where I might meet you
and convince you to rest
and savor coming home to yourself.
