Shona
gratitude
1. GRATITUDE
She looked up to the sky
To blessing, gift of water that
Washes away layers of dust from fields
From crops, from the ever present
Ever looming haunt of Hunger.
Water feeds hunger; water keeps them here
On this land, in this place; kept them from becoming
dust.
No water, no life.
But now the rains fell;
Deluge, it was truly a deluge!
The fields heave with new breath, quietly at first
As if awakening from a deeply, comatose state;
The land pulses; water flooding its veins.
And the rain it fell
Swirling muddy rivulets forming, and the rain it
fell.
Quenching,
quenching, water hitting dirt and
The smell of it, the rising, aromatic, earth scent
of rainwater
blending with dirt. It made her giddy.
As she felt the earth drink deeply drunkenly, as if
to forget
Being made brittle and unyielding.
Symbolism of loss and of hope, it fell and water
careened into dry riverbeds.
Children ran screaming and laughing; clutching
buckets, pans, tin cans,
So that they too could drink become drunk, with water
The rain clouds had brewed stored, distilled, now
released.
She looked up
to the sky and felt those giant teardrops
Of gratitude roll
down her cheeks.
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