I had thought to come bounding in
with, (in my mind, at least) the cheery cry
“I'm home.”
In sunlight, it would be,
Grin as broad as the sunbeam is long.

Wrong turns, steps retraced,
frustration at delays that spoiled my plan.
Darkness fallen.
Ice black as the moonless, starless night.

So slipping, sliding, I arrived.
One slow careful flat-footed step,
then another.
That's how I arrived,

Reminding me, I did not come home,
You brought me, guarded me,
mile by mile and inch by inch,
hemming me in from danger.

M. Wyllie ©2009