WHEN WE LISTENED
A Wailing Song for George Floyd
When you close your eyes to listen,
what do you hear?
Do you hear his name on the horizon
where ocean meets sky
where seagulls take flight and spread their wings like angels?
Even the orca hear his cries:
they sing his soul song to whale
who carries it to eagle
who tells crow
who tells cedar
and wind tells us
another brother, another sister, another life
stepped on grabbed thrown broken
~
When you open your eyes to listen,
what do you hear?
Do you hear their names carried beyond the thick veil?
Weeping willow (over.and.over) holds
the mothers
the daughters
the grandmothers
as their wails echo across the old land to the new land to the old land to last year to this year to next year
handcuff by handcuff
shot by shot
And their hearts burn
And the rage burns
And the buildings burn
Burning the fires of inequity until a beacon signals the true story
of how even the ants mourned when the lost ones were stolen from home.
Unsure of the new work, the new way, the new course forward
the ants
dove to the waters
where seagull heard the grief
and carried it to orca
who took it to whale
who told eagle
who sang it to crow
who cawed to cedar
who cried to wind
who whispered to us
When we listened.
©Rebeca Cavender
May 2020