Finding Our Way Home - My annual Persephone ritual (March 28th) and a new poem

I've written a bunch of poems since my Persephone book came out in 2010 (check it out here), but none about her (that I can think of, anyway).  Some Hecate ones, for sure.  But the other day I was preparing for my annual Persephone ritual for women (check it out here; there are just a few spots left) and a new one came in her voice.  There are so many themes we could focus on with this story.  What I usually do is work with whatever theme has been up for me.  Lately that has been issues around the importance of place, and more specifically of home, with all that the word implies.  Anyway, here's the poem as it now stands.  I may edit some more, but here goes:

Home

Home was always

Mother.

Where she was

I was, and

I felt safe

and loved.

I know that

every child

must leave

home, leave

her mother.

But I –

I was not

ready.

Now,

in the times

that I am with her,

the place is

familiar, but

no longer

comforting or safe

in the old way.

I have become

her equal.

Now,

I don’t know where

home is

for me.

Her home? His?

In the mortal middle ground?

I begin to suspect that

I must carry

home within me,

that I must find home

wherever I am.

After all,

All places

are my place.

All realms are

my realm.

They were given to me

in the exchange.

Here is what

I realize:

I must find a way

to welcome, and

to be welcomed.

Only then

will I know

where – and to what –

I belong.