Runners in the Marathon of Time
Poem to my granddaughters
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| My granddaughters, Zoe (mother, Malaika) and Edith (mother, Cassandra) |
Runners in the Marathon of Time
You were the gifts we awaited,
seeds nurtured in love,
brought to us through
the strength of our daughters.
Your lives, sung to us by our
foremothers,
prayed for in their boundless
world,
are the answer to our prayers,
their prayers.
You come from women who are
neither
willing victims nor
victimizers.
Our words, passed on through
time,
were never weapons of
destruction,
but wise pronouncements
steeling minds and backbones.
You will witness the majesty, misery,
and mysteries of this world.
We will watch you stumble over
obstacles,
observe you slip and slide
while scaling walls
put up to hinder your dreams.
We, your guardians,
will let you find your way,
oversee the road you take,
allow you to become you.
Your lives are our continuum.
You are the torch-bearers of
the new generation.
We pass the baton on,
blood of our blood.
© Althea Romeo-Mark 11.02.15
Published in WomanSpeak: A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, editor, Lynn Sweeting, Bahamas, 2016
The book is
designed by Julia P. Ames and the cover image, "Kenya," is by
feminist artist Maria Maria Acha-Kutscher of Madrid. It depicts a photograph of
a woman taken at a candle light vigil/protest in Kenya calling for the return
of the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in
Nigeria in 2014.
According to Lynn Sweeting,
“WomanSpeak is a small journal from a
small place.
It is a journal devoted to nurturing the creativity of
contemporary Caribbean women
writers and artist,
to providing a forum that amplifies their voices, and
to preserving their work for
future audiences. This
issue is intended for a
particular future audiences
“the granddaughters” or the women writers of the future.”
I am proud to be part of this publication. Contributing writers and artists on the back cover come from all over the Caribbean.
https://www.facebook.com/WomanSpeak-A-Journal-of-Writing-and-Art-by-Caribbean-Women-230394596977622/?fref=nf
"Runners In the Marathon of Time," by Althea Romeo-Mark, fellow-poet and so very dear friend, is as usual, so very well crafted and, as they are usually as well, so deeply felt. Always love where Althea's poems take me - the places without as well as the places within - areas within myself that they allow me to access. Althea's art is high indeed - the lofty places to which her art takes us - like a cathedral's stained-glass windows!
ReplyDeleteI am very honored obie.
DeleteA touching poem--even a reminder of Simeon's words: "Now Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for he has seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." You've never ceased for once in making us feed on your glowing orb of poetry. You're truly gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteYour comments are humbling, K-Moses Nagbe.
DeleteThx. Prof. Mark. Great poem with great lines. I love the first line so much - "You were the gifts we awaited". Somehow we know the offsprings of our offsprings (grandparents) will come but have no idea of how they will be wrapped - in looks, personalities, etc. Greatest of all, we know that we will love them but can never fathom the full measure. You capture the grandiose thoughts of great grandparents. I still await your experience. (Jeremiah Menyongai)
ReplyDeleteYour time will come and you will compose that beautiful poem in thankfulness.
DeleteThx. Prof. Mark. Great poem with great lines. I love the first line so much - "You were the gifts we awaited". Somehow we know the offsprings of our offsprings (grandchildren) will come but have no idea of how they will be wrapped - in looks, personalities, etc. Greatest of all, we know that we will love them but can never fathom the full measure. You capture the grandiose thoughts of great grandparents. I still await your experience. (Jeremiah Menyongai)
ReplyDeleteThx. Prof. Mark. Great poem with great lines. I love the first line so much - "You were the gifts we awaited". Somehow we know the offsprings of our offsprings (grandchildren) will come but have no idea of how they will be wrapped - in looks, personalities, etc. Greatest of all, we know that we will love them but can never fathom the full measure. You capture the grandiose thoughts of great grandparents. I still await your experience. (Jeremiah Menyongai)
ReplyDelete