Above me are branches that are as old as the gods and as wise as the years they've been here. They twist together into knots that seem to flow like veins that open and flow when I lie on my back and peer up at them. I watch as the limbs and sticks and twigs intertwine and I try to find a map of your face in their shape. I look for the serenity it carries, and the peace it instills in me; and as the beats down on my face, I close my eyes and pretend that it's the warmth I feel from you. The world around me becomes your earth, your planet. I find your scent in the flowers, and your strength in the land. The breeze that whips through the trees becomes your breeze, and as it picks me up, it becomes your arms, taking me away.

Your wind lifts me higher and higher, carrying me away from where I was alone with your elements, away from your scent in the flowers and your strength in the land. My body relaxes and I find myself resting my head on your clouds, listening to the whispers of your zephyr. You take me to new heights, places I have never dreamed of. You allow me to dance high above the globe, along the barrier of heaven. I find that when I am with you, floating across the horizon, I am protected. No demons touch me when I am flying on your wind, resting my head on your clouds.

But as I begin to wonder how high you will take me, the wind stops flowing, and you release me. Your zephyr does not whisper to me, your clouds do not catch me, the birds that glide across your sky and are close to your sun beg for you to stop my plummet, but you do not

and I fall. My heart is torn. You let me go. You picked me up, and took me to a place that was my own. A place that was pure, and pristine. And then you let go of me. And I forget that you once gave me yourself to find in a place I thought I never would. I forget that your breeze is weaving around me and mocking my fate, and that the birds are crying for my savior. I forget about your warmth, your scent, and your strength.

And I stop. I am suspended in your bright sky, and the mighty earth below me ceases to spin; and suddenly I see it all.

Everything. Everything is you. I can see your power in the towering mountains. Your rage hides in the crashing sea. I see your pride in the forests and your pain in the ice caps. The globe is littered with your scars. You pulled me here to see what tumult you had created. And I see it. I can see it all.

But I can also see your tranquility in the hills. Your innocence is playful in the fields, and your humor trickles over the streams; your comfort and imagination are displayed in the stars around me. Your serenity is in the trees, your warmth in the sun, and your scent in the flowers. This is your earth, you are everywhere.

And hanging here, caught between your taunting wind and your vast, hiding earth, I see the clearest thing that inhabits your planet. I can see your sheer, unchanging love. It breaks through your mountains and ice caps, and radiates off of your hills and fields. It removes me from my place in your cold sky and puts me where I belong-

here, where I can see your face in the knots, feel your warmth from the sun, and breathe your scent in the flowers.

and I know now, that I am home.