It comes to me in this moment,
I don’t know why,
That one of the times I was happiest
Was walking slow at night

Hand fast on the handle of my bag,
Feet sore but sure on the path that led back
To the dorm I had left, not one week before,
To travel abroad though I had hardly crossed the door

Of that new place to live,
The room small and pale,
The winding back alleys
i would come to know so well.

The wheels of my case were noisy,
Rough on rough ground,
And I shied from catching the eyes
Of unknown neighbors around.

Yet, easing into my own presence there
As I realized my risks were placed behind me,
With decisions required decided and retired,
I turned my face skyward and welcomed the night.

The path was yet long for tired feet
But the street quiet, the shops closed and neat;
The darkness felt only soft and sweet
As would coax from the most reticent a melody

To complete the balance of all things,
The stillness that reached deep within
And witnessed a world where trust would lend
To those who journeyed and returned here

A sense of home, though hardly known:
Instinctive meeting of shapes congruent,
A confidence separate from all foundation,
Born of faith and solidarity with strangers

Whose downcast eyes reveal nothing of the will
That nonetheless carried them past the till
To the place of like movement, by like sources moved—
Wordless sympathy immediately known

Impossible to build from word or stone
Or long years spent together or alone.

Known in a moment, lost with the fade
Of misty blue light that softened the stage
Where passions collided when drawn by the promise,
The absolute investment of hope that was honest.

On that quiet midnight street,
The heat of those thoughts ran far and fleet,
But the scratch of pavement rough and real
Assured me that there was more to feel—

That this place, that held such vital breath,
Would last beyond the morning rush
And offer more, more days to touch
If I would stay and make them mine:

A choice just then within my reach,
So onward push my weary feet
And certain rest the restless heart
Of life lived well and full.