My mind used to run a mile a minute.
It took forever to quit
because brokenness is more addicting than nicotine.
I used to loathe myself and everyone and everything—and gosh! That nearly killed me.
Nowadays,
I have pushed away the beer and fallen in love with a different tea.
Even so,
my Septembers taste like the grace of embers
as I watch the ashes of my past turn into amber

I have stepped into the woman I came to know.
I am drawn to her glow,
though it's not from her own
but a Light that long lives in Heaven.

I am the prodigal son running home,
casting off the weight of the world
and it feels good to breathe.