- launched from the shores of your ancestry
- you are like the plant whose exposure to light
- is apparent in the bend and torque of its stem,
- in the angulation of each leaf,
- in every expression of bloom.
- be wary:
- even a casual conversation between a miller and a soldier has portent.
- when you point to your heart,
- you are pointing to the day your father married your mother.
- they were driven slowly to the train station;
- neighbors and friends ran alongside, pelting them with flowers.
- the first night of their married life was shared
- by two strangers neither of them ever got to know.
- of your fresh, young cheek you can say,
- “here is my grandmother, being told her only daughter
- has been thrown from a horse
- and will die of complications.”
- you are sent abroad to change the direction these lights take.
- seeds, embedded in you as jewels,
- must be plucked,
- examined with great care,
- sold to the enemy.