Sudanese Summer

When the soldiers rained down death
I feasted on my tears
And prayed my body down to die
In bitterness and fear

I didn’t know then how to live
While baby kicked within me
Unearthing hope to carry on
To gather, travel, sleep

Tread dust along the endless road
From spring to barren summer
By fields baked hard to potting shards
Entombing seeds deep under

I pushed my baby from my belly
‘Midst a crowd of strangers
I heard his cry and answered with
My song of love and anger

Now my child sucks hoarsely at
My pruning, dusty breast
Amid a sea of hungriness
While I sit down to rest

We wait together for the dawn
Of death to rise and take us
Late to be with those we love
Who swiftly flew before us

I remain to send a signal,
Far from home I wonder
Planting seeds within a womb
That never knew our hunger

These I’ll water with my tears
And warm them with my fever
We’ll cover them with prayers for
This land before we leave her

Our bodies we will lay us down
To nourish them with power
That one day all the world will thirst
For righteousness to flower

Bo Gordy-Stith * July 30, 1998