Spring of a Mother

One day,
smoke will rise high from the widow’s chimney,
for she will have a reason to be alive once again.

Children will run with snot on their faces
and wipe it on their clothes, unashamed.
When they fall down, they will rise again—assured of a future with freedom
and a home safe to run to.

Women will no longer bury their faces in the pillow,
muffling sobs so that their children may sleep peacefully—
while they endure the burn of alcoholism and abuse
in the quiet of endless, violent nights.

No longer will our sisters trade their bodies to fend and feed their families.
Dignity to grow and cultivate will not be taken away from her anymore.
She will have land and crops, home and hearth, even in the absence of a male heir!
She will live without fear and with an identity.

Our youths will return home,
no longer forced to migrate for knowledge and bread.
For they will seek the living bread and water.
Our fathers and brothers will grapple no more—with addiction
not for lack of purpose or the meaning of life.
They will carry no shame, nor borrow anymore,
for someone else has paid all the debts.

The church bell in our villages will ring clearer,
for it condemns no one anymore—
but embraces the poor and the fallen,
and chooses the least to lead.

One day,
it will be a lot like heaven, once again.
It takes you and me and all – to love
and we will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.

Read More: Straight From the Heart

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