It is amazing to me

how different

life can be,

how much can change

in two short years.

The summer heat

used to feel oppressive…

Now I feel kissed

by the sun.

Nights of fear

and suffocating tension

have given way

to peace..

and ecstatic joy.

“Home” felt like

a battlefield – 

Now I am at home

in myself

and I find it a place

of grace…of peace.

Beauty that existed

only in moments

now whisper to me

constantly

singing me to sleep.

Each night I am 

kissed by the wind

instead of 

weathering the storm.

Alone…never lonely.

I have found

family

at last.