Earth Child

Earth Child    

By Elim C.

A child is born today

And the Earth sheds a tear for it is hers

She will grow tall and brown-eyed with a temper like the ocean

         -like earth and water, like her mother

A sickness in her blood like her many fallen sisters

         -a betrayal of the body to make families of strangers

A cloud in her lungs, from the air of her fathers

         -a small price to convenience of youth

Pain in her eyes from the wars of her countries, so much blood reflected in such young eyes

         -war for peace, peace from war, can she really ever understand?

And she will learn to dance, to sway sequined hips to the joyous tempo of drumbeats

And to sing wailing songs of painful pasts and brilliant futures

She will have Wisdom in her, brighter than a thousand nations

          As a song plays in her head

          Dances on her tongue

                             And we are one, one people, one mind, I am yours and you are mine

                         Because your sky is my sky, with that final spark of sun

                       Always in the same place and I wonder

                       if you wish the same thing as me when a flash goes by

                          And the same stars you gaze at are reflected in my eyes

                               And at the end of our story, the blood in our veins runs the same shade of red