Home

A home above the year's seasons
a home for children beasts apples
a square block of empty space
under an absent star

home was childhood's telescope
home was feeling's skin
a sister's cheek
a tree's branch

a flame blew out of cheek
a bullet struck out the branch
a homeless footsoldier's song
over the scattered ash of a nest

home is a childhood's cube
home is feeling's die

a burnt sister's wing
a dead tree's leaf

Zbigniew Herbert, The Collected Poems 1956 - 1998, Alissa Valles, Ecco, 2007