remembrance
happy birthday Bre. a poem for you and the mothers before.
it didn’t dawn on me
but had always been a persistent ache
that had never ceased
but revived as i remembered
i’m tired.
i’m tired of being tired.
tired of saying a small prayer to my ancestors
to protect me when i leave my home or
of the immense relief that i come back safely,
knowing the security is but temporary.
tired of being asked to uplift a world that don’t love girls like me,
that doesn’t remember how to sing to me praise songs before the breath stops.
tired that my sisters in body/spirit live in fear,
of the men that shout above me to prove my point
afraid they will be forgotten too
tired of sifting for words when what’s left in my body
is grief.
and somehow, i’m not tired of finding joy in my sisters arms,
as we remember each other cause the world’s too busy
killing us while we save it.
i remember your Sandra, mother of justice.
i remember your Breonna, keeper of the hearts struggling to beat.
i remember your Pamela,
i remember you Korryn,
i remember you Atatiana,
i remember you Shantel,
i remember us in order to remember me.
i remember you when we’ve stayed unseen.