I invoke you, woman.
From the dust of the tornado, hair a halo, muscles stretched and shimmering.
Soft skin invincible and glistening.
In every light you glow, woman.
Rising from the trodden soil, a sapling.
From a seed planted long ago, a splinter.
A girl set in her mother’s belly set in her mother’s belly set in her mothers’ belly.
You come as a whisper, a promise,
Woman.
When you sing songs of faith, I pray.
When you tell stories of longing, I yearn.
When you bite your nails to the quick, I weep.
When you wonder at the world, I wonder with you.
What do you see on the horizon, in the quickening clouds, in the clefts of rock, in the deep wounds of bark?
When the water moves, I move too.
Waiting for you, woman.
With you I could, I can, I will.
Who else could call you but me? But us?
But the hollowed out heart of the world.
Waiting to be filled again by the rhythm of your heels,
Digging deep into the fissures and drawing water.
I’ll wait for you forever.