Women around the world wake up.
They are from different religions.
They are from different ethnicity.
They are of different skin tone.  
They wake to their own beauty.

They gather for a wake.
They denounce the lies of men.
They dig deep in the earth.
The old husband tales, they bury.
The womb of the earth cleanses.

The wind blows and dust rises
Spirits soars, there is joy,
A child is born carved out of her bones.  
A child is shaped out of her dust.
A child is alive, one with the wind.  

A child is made of soil, of dust, of sand of earth.
Each child molded and shaped in love.
Each child is a child of Mother Earth.
Women awake to their sibling’s beauty.
Women are the children on Mother Earth.

Women wake to truth.  Women speak truth.
Mother knows best, Mother Earth sure does.
Mother Earth does not segregate
Mother Earth does not classify
Mother loves all her children, so do I!

A gift I need to profess my love.
Pop culture tells me
A diamond is a girl’s best friend!
A diamond is about commitment!
A diamond is A promise of STRONG love!
A diamond expresses EVERlasting love!
A diamond is forever!
No money in my pocket just lint and a seed.

Yes, a seed I will give to my true love!
In a small box I place my seed
A note I write to my love!
Do accept this seed.  Let us plant it!
As it sprouts it will soon be a seedling.
The seedling will grow into a tree,
Our tree will protect us and warm us.
Our tree reminds us of our love.

As seedling fall and sprout more trees grow.
We can chop some to build our home.
We build a fireplace to burn dead wood.
In those long winter months we sit and carve.
Springtime comes we marvel at budding new growth.
A nest, we can see, birds sing a song   of thanks.
In summer we sit in the shade, protected and safe.
In the fall a thunderstorm, lighting strikes our tree falls.

Our tree is not dead, do not mourn.  
Our love is not dead, do not mourn.
Our love is transformed.  
Like the seed it metamorphoses
To the earth the tree returns.
Our tree transforms into coal.
Under pressure it becomes a diamond.
Yes, my love,  diamonds are forever.

Yonder they burn.  I ponder! I wonder!
Women meet a fiery end.
Women are burnt alive.
Yonder they burn!  I ponder! I wonder!
A burning desire lights my heart.
Answers I seek, solutions we need.

Yonder they burn.  I ponder! I wonder!
They burn women who want freedom.
Women who want to stop an invasion.
Some are defeated others not.
They fought with men and against men.
We know the names of those shamed.

Yonder they burn!  I ponder! I wonder!
Men answer my burning question
As they chant.  As they dance around fire.
They yell and scream burn, for your salvation.
You are spared the fires hell.
Burning flesh smells and burns like hell.

Yonder they burn!  I ponder! I wonder!
The clergy burns witches at the stake, for land!
A military genius Joan of Arc saved France yet was burnt.
In Algeria, La Kahina wins yet is burns in her tent.
A judge found Marie Joseph Angelique guilty, a slave, burns.
Women Jewish, Roma and traitors are burnt in **** ovens.

Yonder they burn!  I ponder! I wonder!
A burning question is seared in my heart.
A fire burns in my breast.  Fire lights my way.  
Fire makes me see what hell is for a woman.
Women by fire are branded: sinners, slaves, witches,
I wonder and ponder on hell and some men.

There is an unspoken truth
In silence!
A deafening sound
In silence!
An unspoken pain
In Silence!
Knowledge shared by eyes
In Silence!
A well-kept secret
Silenced
Silence often times speaks.
Silence speaks louder than words.

COPYRIGHT AND PUBLISHED IN POET.ORG ANTHOLOGY 2012