The clouds burst open
and become a river.
The wild and the stray
come searching for shelter.
I open my chest
and let them sleep
inside my bones.

Thunder rolls
through the darkened city.
Lamp posts tremble.
Lights flicker once—
then surrender the streets
to endless night.

Every strike.
Every violent crack.

The tiny hairs on my skin rise
as if the body knows
something larger is coming.

The roads have disappeared now.
Cars stand abandoned.
Umbrellas and raincoats,
made useless by the storm,
drift slowly away
toward another world.

But the doors to my home—
I leave them open.

I leave them open because
you never came back.

My eyes never shut.
The hallway light
stays on.
The sky changes shape
without asking permission.
The lightning fades.
The thunder grows distant.

Still—

I do not sleep.

And when sleep finally comes
my eyes remain open inside it.
Morning arrives quietly.
A single ray of light
falls across my face.

I look toward the window
and see a small wound of blue
breaking through the grey.
I reach inside myself
for all the creatures
I had given shelter.

They are gone.

Gone through the same door
I left open all night.

It has been years now
and I leave it open still,

In hope,
that someday
you find your way back home.