My Travel Ode

A partner once told me

“I am cold…”

I offered her my sweater

“No…a deep coldness”

I replied, “And only I could make you warm”

That’s how I always viewed travel

Born in Russia

I was always a snowbird

Seeking warmer climates

Seeking warmer people

For a while I thought that was the key

That my happiness lied in California

Or Vietnam

Or Australia

Or Hawaii

Or Miami

That the perfect partner would make me warm

Or the perfect boss

Or my best friends

Because for moments they did

They gave me little tastes

Little flashes of what could be

And like a drug I kept chasing those fleeting flashes

I have traveled enough

To learn that no place and no person can fuel the hearth of my heart for long

Instead, wherever I am

I can just bundle up

Soak in my own inner warmth

And radiate it into the place and people I’m with