“WE”

The above image is a piece titled “Caress” by artist Keith Mallett.

We were birthed by women

with limbs of steel

and spines of diamond vertebrae.

Women who did not need to say “good morning”

cause when their eyelids parted

the sun rose with them.

Women who did not need to say “goodnight”

cause their arms wrapped around you

was ebony enough

to summon a comforting blanket of nightfall.

We are the daughters

of hibiscus, herbal teas

and rhythmic inheritance.

We are the gems of the universe,

floral fruit to the generational tree

the investigated shadows of the moon,

the ebb and flow of many seas.

©2017 Afroetry Works