There was a
girl who lived on the triangle
rock,
Behind the two
cypress on the shore of the channel,
Between the
islands.
There were animals there, all the
lions and
zebras,
Elephants and
bears and
eagles and
possums,
Like the girl had always been.
For fun they'd have
lunch,
And sing to each other,
In the words God taught them on the
sixth day.
It went "Alle-ley-ley, Alle-ley-lah,
Please grant us a new world
tomorrow."
And when it got cold they wore each other as fur,
And gnawed on the bones of the
fallen.
Singing "Alle-ley-ley, Alle-ley-lah.
The souls of the
dead bring tomorrow."
One day the girl watched the lion and cubs,
Hunting the bears and the eagles,
For lunch in the sun they went singing their songs,
And gnawed on the bones of the fallen.
She asked how it could be in the peace of the islands,
They could spend all their days so violently.
What kind of a world at the end of it all
Demands song and the bones of the other?
And the lioness replied, "like the bow in the sky,
Each breath that we draw is recursive.
Sun who brings day,
Whom we honor with song,
Says the soul of the one
Is the life of us all
All we have is today and no other."
Then the girl on the rock felt the cold Arctic wind,
While the animals played and went hunting.
She watched and the cold made her have to decide,
To sit singing her songs or grow wiser.
The girl went away,
Two hundred seventy days,
And returned with her arms full of bunting.
And the animals sang as loud as they could,
But all she could hear was the north wind.
Yet she knew that they spoke and remembered the song,
She held her son high so he'd hear every note,
She sang, "Alle-ley-ley, Alle-lay-lah,
Praise God who has made me creator.
The soul of the one is the life of us all
Please grant him this day and tomorrow."
And the wind stopped.
The current froze.
Then all of the animals,
And all of the stones,
The triangle rock and the cypress trees,
Made a path on the earth for the God she'd become,
Knew fear in their chests as they cleared way the bones.
She stepped off of the rock,
Then into the world.
Her child was hungry,
And she would feed him.
For my mom
To whom I have never written.