I awaken every morning
Fall asleep every night
With the same image in my mind
An image that soothes my soul
Glues me together when I’m in pieces
An image so dear to me it could be from the inside of my heart
Inside every artery and vein
In every blood cell that circulates in my being
An image that is hard to describe
Maybe even harder for you to understand
Maybe you’ll get it if I tell you it is my morning and night
It is in my dreams and in my reality
A dream so real I try reaching for it
A reality too far to reach
It is my past and my future
It sleeps soundly in my memories,
Breathes slowly and softly
As if it’ll only come to life
When I am there once again.

If I wanted to paint this image
I’d paint the green olive trees
With leaves that are soft yet rough
I’d darken their roots,
To show you just how strong their bark is
I’d paint the brick houses
That have withstood every rainfall and every dry summer day
I’d paint the scraping paint on the fences
Because my hand brushed that fence every day
And every day I watched the pieces sink down the drain
As I washed my hands of them
I’d paint every stone in the ground and every inch of dirt
Because they aren’t filthy
They’re pieces of my home
Like my fingers and nails are pieces of me
I’d paint the silver doorknobs that have been there for decades
And show you the rusty metal key in the palm of my hand
The key that stays the same with every door it opens
The same key my great-grandmother hid in her breast pocket
For her heart to keep safe
When she had no choice but to leave her home years before
In hope that they’d return one day
I’d paint the cracks in the streets
The old cars that rattled past our house every day
The young children playing in the same house their grandparents lived in
And most of all,
I’d try to describe the scent of fresh air I woke up to every morning
Mixed with the sweet fragrance of morning tea
Tinted with mint leaves plucked from our garden
I’d describe the cooing of the mourning doves as we ate breakfast every morning
Because those are all the things that make this image mine
Its memories alive in my soul
Its scent still the same one I wake up to every morning
And fall asleep to every night.