were you born drinking the sky
like the oceans split at your toes
when the gulls called morning?

with sleep-sunk eyes
trapped between fingers
to watch the moon bleed through

a starburst on your jawbone
cut from kissing lightning
and threading daisies through park swings

did you sleep on the soft sands
seaweed plaited through your hair
when the water called you home?

we raised you on thunderstorms
and you brought us summer rain