Small Lit Room

I leave the porch light off tonight

The wind's been talking too much

Headlines humming in the kitchen

I rinse

them off my hands

in cold water

Bare feet on the wood floor

Coming back into my

body

I don't answer every ghost that knocks

I don't carry every name they

drop I

learned to love

the sound

of a locked door

I protect my energy

like a small lit room

One candle, one bowl,

salt on the sill

I say no soft,

I say no true

If it costs my peace,

it costs too much to keep

When the world feels haunted,

I keep

my light low and steady

Phone face down, kettle on

Let the steam rewrite the air

I breathe in for four,

hold, let go

Let what isn't mine go back where it lives

I water something green

I let

something dead

be dead

I protect my energy

like a small lit room

One candle, one bowl,

salt on the sill

I say no soft,

I say no true

If it costs my peace,

it costs too much to keep When the world feels haunted,

I keep

my light low and steady

I am not a lighthouse for every storm

I am not a blanket for every cold

I am a house with a hearth I choose who sits near

the fire

I sweep the corners,

I clear the air

I close the curtains,

I say a prayer that is just my own breath I protect

my energy, not because I'm hard But because I'm holy,

and tender,

and still here

Low

and steady Low and steady

Let the haunted world pass by My light stays low and steady