I have the remedy, but not the recipe

It wasn’t the horizon

It was smoke that played majestic in my visual proximity

Whipped cream

Bright and white and orange tinged

billowing from forest seam

Helicopters thudding

and the whipping, frantic wind

that bullied subtle, like the memory of a horrid dream

We all left (well most of us)

We’d learned.

We could stay, but we all knew

It’s far too easy to be burned

I was still a shell

Shocked and locked inside that hell

It took some words from you

To set me free,

And since,

I wondered,

Why would she send those words to me?

But I’m not hurting any more

Some sailor saw the signals and lifted me from shore

I didn’t need it

But it was sweet and soft and comforting

And I rested at its core

And in its care

Relieved your ghost could never reach me there

So now the many hearts that reach towards me find me there again

I don’t have to lock some wall in place, and brace, to hold the pain

I am loved, I am loved, I am so grateful for the state

I thought I would be stuck there, what an awful place to have to wait

I am free, I am free, and how I bless the simple sense

No need for hurt, no need for fear, no need for some defence

I am alone, I am alone and so okay within my skin

I love this space, my own warm place, the heart so filled within

I hear the drumming of anxiety that lurks within the town

and I know my quiet island can calm the panic down

And since you showed your colours and your choices clear as day

I am free to be myself again and flag a better way

Tomorrow, there is warning, the heat will rise again

and plans that bring us safety must be firm if we remain

I have no certainty

Some things are clear to me

Maybe it’s destiny

this heart bled clarity

I have the remedy

But not the recipe