Things I didn’t know I loved (after Nazim Hikmet)

I didn’t know I loved the heat

I always thought I was a cold weather girl

snow and ice and wind

but now I’ve grown soft, too much warmth, can’t live without it 

too many years in the tropics, in the desert, in Mediterranean climates 

now I’m always cold if the mercury dips below 30 celsius,

I wear scarves and jumpers and pull the covers over my head at night

I didn’t know I loved to sleep

I was never action-girl, not sports mad, not hyperactive,

but now I find the best way to spend the afternoon is on the swing,

eyes closed, rocking the world

I didn’t know that time would speed up

and I would love the morning light

I didn’t know the day would be half over, too late, why bother?

if I got up at 9 o’clock

I didn’t know how much I love my own company,

how irritated I can be by a doorbell or the phone,

how much I like the silence of birds

and water bubbling

and cats stalking through the grass

I didn’t know I loved life quite so much that I really wouldn’t want to leave