I Walked A Thousand Miles

I walked a thousand miles away from home—

IV stands and frozen steps

Dicarbozene and overcast skies

With you, the uninvited.

We trudged past red mailboxes on the precipice

Of a gray dusk, white blood cells from the clouds

Frozen lips and feathered hair carried

In frostbitten boots. We walked

Until the sun dipped below the valley

Leaving braided darkness at my cheek

My steps grew timid and my heart

Weary and I wondered about sitting

Down in the snow. Still you

Lingered. And it wasn’t time

Until it was. One day

Passing the holly bushes, I turned

I walked a thousand miles homeward—

Daffodils and healing flesh

Turning our faces skyward, without

Your weight at my neck. Climbing steady,

Sloping hills from the valley to the light

Broken skin and tender heart padding

Carefully on uneven concrete. Puddles

Of tea full of the moon’s reflection

In lock step beside me.

This article was featured in the June 2024 Dear Cancer issue of Elephants and Tea Magazine! Click here to read our magazine issues.