Eden

That ticklish coolness behind my ears when I shaved my hair off?
It felt like flirtation. In 2009 when I became myself
The universe started hitting on me.
I walked in sunshine, I smiled all day, swung my hips,
Wore fine leather thongs around my ankles.
I made eyes at the tallest, handsomest trees
And I swear some of them winked back.

And then, auē, 15 years of knocking on all the wrong doors
Until you found me and led me back to myself,
Just a little too late.

Now, sitting in the sun outside Parliament, the breeze
Licks me in that particular way again, softly,
Just behind my left ear. Suddenly, startlingly,
I am back in my 27 year old body, inhabiting
Its confidence and possibility.
And Spirit says to me, a voiceless arrival of deep and certain knowledge:
Welcome home.

And it tells me
That I am still tall and strong and lithe and light and free.
I am still beautiful and powerful.
It is not too late for anything.

And the leaves rustle and stir and the joy rises,
And I love you so much in that moment
That surely it must have hummed in your veins,
Made your fingers tingle,
Maybe mingled with the honey
Sweetening your tea.

This Eden you have given me is fragile and temporary, I know.
But my darling,
It is Eden.