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To my sisters, in Kigali,
who somehow survived
the horror of genocide,
losing so many loved ones
in the bloodbath,
to my sisters, survivors of rape,
brutality and displacement
in the Congo,
yet still able to care about others,
in whatever refuge you have found
upon the desert,
to my sisters, enslaved around the world,
made beasts of burden
who grow thin
so corporations and
the military industrial complex
can grow fat,
to my sisters in Palestine,
trying to survive
amidst the bombs and tanks.........
know there are women in this world
whose reverence is for your right to life,
unassaulted, on the plot of land
on which you find yourself
attempting to survive.
You have our respect and, even, awe,
that in the midst of rubble,
and the bombing and the burying
of your children,
you somehow find a way,
still, to live.
You find a way to make a life:
when no soft bed is near,
you make a nest with stones.
What happens to one,
happens to us all,
and so I weep for you,
but also I applaud you
for being Woman,
the Divine Feminine,
which, if it were allowed,
would create the world we need,
in place of this world
of unconscionable
violence and greed.
There is much work
for we women to do.
We cannot feed and care for all,
but we can feed and care
for the ones
right in front of us.
You show us how.
We do not set aside our ethics for money.
We do not waste our effort making war,
when it is needed for tending
the living:
planting gardens and trees,
even when the only water we have
to nourish them
comes from our tears.
I see the spark
that kindles
in your eyes,
that warms
when you recognize
we see you,
Sisters of the earth,
in your struggle to survive.
We applaud your courage
as we hold our breath
and watch
your spirits rise.
