an updated version of an old dear poem of mine, which was inspired by this painting by  rick mobbs as well as the poetry of Maya Angelou.

inhale golden burgundy peace. exhale grey lavender grief. kiss me until joy travels through every orifice of your body, cooling the fires in the growing oceans surrounding us.

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imagine us together forever. tuck yourself under the shade of the chocolate tree in our imagination. carve our initials s and e into the trunk with strawberry juice. lay with me against the soil until dawn.

i stroke you until the whip lashes tattooed into your brown skin shimmer like stars. you become so alive that you relearn how to feel and tears of happiness stream down your face as my laugh — slow crescendo of love tickles your cheeks. i see the anatomy of a rainbow in your eyes.

just before nightfall, you point into the distance. tremors overcome our bodies as we see us in a future dreamland — happy and free with our children by our side. we wake during the night surrounded by the remnants of the harmony of their beings; they soothe us back to sleep.

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when morning comes and master finds us, we repeat maya’s words “we rise, from a past rooted in pain, we rise, black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling, bearing in the tide…we rise, bringing the ancestors’ gifts, the dreams and hopes of slaves, we rise, we rise, we rise.”  we are not afraid because we know that i am the sun and you are the earth. our story is without end.

–lissa

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