fire of the nations

we wandered around the United Kingdom for two months,
climbing to peaks to catch the slipping sun,
whispering together on buses that crisscrossed the valleys,
holding hands briefly in worship,
and my heart broke and changed and grew so beautifully.

all the haunts you used to know

I spent a weekend at my grandparents' in the mountains, and my grandfather took me on an unexpected hike up to a beaver pond he had known years ago. We found boys camping in the shadow of a mountain, and we walked together in silence, picking flowers for my grandmother.