ode.

Though we did not crack
From the same troubled womb,
I call you sister.

And if you should appear on my doorstep,
Heart torn fresh from her roots,
Understand I would then break my own
And offer you the other half.

Though we live so far apart,
We live together, all the same.

Refusing to shrink our voices
To fit smaller minds,

Ladling souls from rivers
With our bare hands,
To teach their worn, heavy souls, to float.

Welding our skins,
With beeswax and gathered lighting.

We are women who are willing
To love alone in the dark,
Lock our hearts in eachother's chests,

And touch,
Like our fingers
Invented it.

- Jeffrey Mcdaniel. 2005