inspired by a sculpture of the same name, by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller,
in which an African woman serenely sheds her mummy-like wrappings.
Fear and joy strangely intermingle
as dark finally gives way to bright,
imagine that very 1st time
you saw sunlight, understood its meaning,
felt the intensity behind the statement
“the struggle is no more”
there she stands, an obelisk of beauty,
her strength, a pyramid of pride,
displayed for all, above her head,
she shakes loose former inhibitions,
eyes shining fiercely
as she makes transition, to free
from formerly chained,
some haunts remain,
her past, inside that shell,
the hell of life confined is persecution,
but more ghastly, the uncertainty of never seeing,
no enemy to hate,
no country to curse,
an inner battle she fought alone
for her pain’s execution,
now she’s won…
the sun above her,
tears fall, shockwaves of disbelief
as she finally witnesses them
hitting the ground…
the ground…
how much we take for granted
those darkened mounds of sand…
she takes them in her hand,
the feeling, against her skin…
beyond erotic,
far more meaningful than 1000 orgasms times 10,
her imprisonment has come to an end...
she walks the land before her,
steps seem almost foreign,
touching the flowers, tasting the waters,
she can truly breathe again…
each breath consumed
resumes
a process…(living)….which she’d lost
so long ago,
that now, she’s finding, it’s almost fantasy,
some heavenly dream
she’s experiencing within her bindings,
but it’s real,
more real than ever before,
as she grasps life’s pores,
siphoning out droplets,
Ethiopia has awakened,
she can feel it, she can taste it…
and the feeling:
life fulfilling her even more
in which an African woman serenely sheds her mummy-like wrappings.
Fear and joy strangely intermingle
as dark finally gives way to bright,
imagine that very 1st time
you saw sunlight, understood its meaning,
felt the intensity behind the statement
“the struggle is no more”
there she stands, an obelisk of beauty,
her strength, a pyramid of pride,
displayed for all, above her head,
she shakes loose former inhibitions,
eyes shining fiercely
as she makes transition, to free
from formerly chained,
some haunts remain,
her past, inside that shell,
the hell of life confined is persecution,
but more ghastly, the uncertainty of never seeing,
no enemy to hate,
no country to curse,
an inner battle she fought alone
for her pain’s execution,
now she’s won…
the sun above her,
tears fall, shockwaves of disbelief
as she finally witnesses them
hitting the ground…
the ground…
how much we take for granted
those darkened mounds of sand…
she takes them in her hand,
the feeling, against her skin…
beyond erotic,
far more meaningful than 1000 orgasms times 10,
her imprisonment has come to an end...
she walks the land before her,
steps seem almost foreign,
touching the flowers, tasting the waters,
she can truly breathe again…
each breath consumed
resumes
a process…(living)….which she’d lost
so long ago,
that now, she’s finding, it’s almost fantasy,
some heavenly dream
she’s experiencing within her bindings,
but it’s real,
more real than ever before,
as she grasps life’s pores,
siphoning out droplets,
Ethiopia has awakened,
she can feel it, she can taste it…
and the feeling:
life fulfilling her even more
