THE SEED: A Poetic Response from My Sister

We are learning still to hold

this seed

in our broken bellies

to give it water

sunlight

plenty of attention

notice changes in color

shape

is a leaf growing now?

500 years we have borne

Despair flowing from cord to

umbilical cord

every generation a little more blind

every generation a little more

steel than blood

are we going to do this again

I kissed the earth

I watered it with my marrow

I wondered

where did they go

all of those people who said they

loved

me

Our seed is not afraid of sky

storm or sea

It is the bravest thing of all –

and the hardest

For when we are shadows only

How do we know to

Give sunlight

Can we be gifts

When our lives are

So cheap

We are soil

Let us squeeze whatever tears we still have

Yes every last drop

And water each other

For nothing is given

No scraps left

For the lionesses

Of

This world

Turned desert

We are the prophets of possibility

We wear wings that sometimes bear us high

And at other times choke us

We are still learning to hold this seed

In our broken bellies

Waiting for the rain