The Daughter Visits

what safety in these walls
is that of comfort—
habit brings us together
once again knowing what to expect
in talk, gesture, food, drink
change only in growing older
taller, thinner, softer, more confident
or gray; we still have morning
coffee and cat like clockwork
at the door

for all I have been pacing
restless with sameness
staring out the window
while you wander the world
I turn in again to see it as refuge
from every kind of roiling storm

we close the door and curtains
on thunder’s low mutter
surround ourselves for this moment
in grateful silence