Guarantees
by rebecca ~ October 27th, 2006. Filed under: Poems & art.
(painting from www.atlasoftheuniverse.com_milkyway2.jpg)
Guarantees
Four a.m. my son awakens, stricken with a grief
he cannot explain. His hands search
like starfish for my mouth and eyes,
his head burrows into my chest as if
he wishes to be unborn again. What can I do
for him except tell him I am here?
All Will Be Well. ShhhShhhShhh.
The any-mother threadbare guarantee patched
together with borrowed blankets, unpaid bills,
a gelid radiator, and tarnished pennies in a bowl.
I sing what I know: Swing low, sweet chariot,
coming for to carry me home, I once was lost,
but now I’m found, was blind, but now
I see, kum by yah, my Lord, kum by yah,
O, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall
overcome someday, we are not afraid,
O, deep in my heart, I do believe.
My son pats my back to the same
rhythm I pat his, and we head hand-in-hand
to the mountain top where a band of angels
fly. Our mother is there in the center
of the spiraling galaxy, weaving with her bony
fingers blue and yellow stars into the twigs of a nest.
She hums what she knows until morning comes.