After all the photos had been filed
and the passport carefully stowed away
and the last bag unpacked
and the last shirt washed and folded,
she stood in her bedroom and looked around.

On instinct, she picked up her keys
and turned to go home,
half a second before she remembered
that she was already there.

But sitting on the edge of her bed
with the sheets she’d picked out
and her books on the shelf
and her pictures on the wall,

she’d never felt more homesick in her life.

Published on AustralianReader.com