Heliopause

by Kathleen Ellis

In this place where the wind

from the sun gives way to the wind

from the stars

the Earth waits for its guests

to return to her

to lie on her sandy beaches

to summit her peaks

to speak her 6,900 languages

to master just one

to make up for lost time

to beg the question

to accept the kindness of strangers

recalling the few times

you have paused

before you leaped through air,

knowing whatever

boundaries you push, you are drawn

back to the earth you live on.